“Love one another fervently with a pure heart.” —1 Peter 1:22
The greatest virtue in the Christian life is love, and in Scripture, love is volitional; love is a choice that manifests itself in faithful commitment towards others. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son” (John 3:16). Many people in our day think love is an emotion or feeling, and that is why we hear such nonsense statements as, “we fell in or out of love.” However, the example Jesus gave for loving others was a commitment to serve as a lowly foot washer, and then to go to the furthest extent by giving His life for those who were undeserving of His love. Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15:13). As believers, we manifest love to Christ and to others by faithful obedience to God’s Word (John 14:15). Jesus said in John 13:34-35, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” In other words, love is a commitment, love is a conscious choice, a decision, a resolute, self-sacrificial intentional act towards another that is not founded upon emotions or feelings, but upon the rock-solid truth of Scripture.
Therefore, the Apostle Peter commands believers in our text to “love one another fervently with a pure heart.” To love fervently with a pure heart means that true love is genuine and sincere; love is not two faced or hypocritical. True love does not wear a mask of deception. Scripture tells us that true love is not superficial or phony, but real and tangible. Love is not just in words, but it is also in deed and in truth. Therefore, we must do more than just talk about love; we must live a life of love in all our actions. “Whoever has this world’s goods and sees his brother in need and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? My little children let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:17-18).
Does this love of God dwell within your heart? Jesus said, “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Christian, manifest the love of Christ as you live day by day in this troubled life because a life of love glorifies the Lord, who in love, purchased us with His own blood. “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).
Tuesday Encouragement: March 2, 2021
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry