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Love's Conduct I: Love Conveys

 ·   ·  ☕ 4 min read  ·  ✍️ Odunayo Rotimi

Snapshot

Key Text: John 3:16.
Key Character: Jesus - the One who loves and must be loved like.

Overview

As a new chap on an internship in a new city, I decided to fellowship at a close-by church. It was customary to bring the handicapped to church for fellowship since it was close to a care home. My attention was drawn to a man making some embracing gestures on one such occasion. Why? He saw their caregiver give attention to one of them who was lonely and protested in her own way. To this, the man bent on his wheelchair, giggling like one carrying a baby in his arms, signifying his thankfulness for the caregiver’s concern for the lonely.

The bottom line is love is beautiful, told in words, but lively and felt, expressed indeed. To this, John the beloved contributed in instruction, saying, “Love not in words but indeed.” The best I had for the lonely that day, if anything close to love, was love at far sight – mere concern. He could not feel it. But the moment he saw love expressed in a crisis, he appreciated it, though the deed was not directly to him.

Love expressed itself in human form, as it were, being God in the person of Christ Jesus. To this, we could say love is a man possessing attributes. We, therefore, seek to consider the conduct of love in this series. May we be faithful to rise up to challenges, where we are challenged and repent where due. Thus He loved:

Love Coveys: “For God so love… that he gave…”

God would have been an abstract lover with love restrained to heaven alone if He loved without giving. Love at heart is the fuel; love indeed the vehicle that conveys affection 😍 to the recipient. Therefore, one of the conducts of love is that it channels its message by the orchestration of gifts and actions. For God so love, and He gave1. In another “Husbands love your wife, as Christ loved the church and gave2 Yet more, “…there’s no love greater than this than a man should give3

It’s one of love’s central conduct to convey its heart-meant messages. And it does so through an arm stretched out to give. To the lonely, love will give time and attention. Love provides care to the sick. To the perishing love gives the gospel. To the mournful love conveys gladness. To the grumpy, a loving arm means forgiveness. To the oppressed, Love advocates justice. For the sin-captive, Love pays the price for his ransom. To the sick, love gives health. To the weary, love speaks encouragement. To the faintly, love gives hope. With the poor, love shares. Love gives all within its power to help those in need. Love is never heavily affectionate at heart and handicapped in his hand. Oh, love rather finds the nearest available token to express the heartfelt affection to others. Love sees God needing fellowship and gives its time. It sees God desirous of a broken heart and gives himself, trusting God like a child, for him to let God break him. Love sees Jesus in prison and pays Him a visit. He sees Jesus thirsty and meets His need by serving the needy disciple of Jesus water.

Romans 5:5 says the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit poured into our hearts. So it seems to me like the love here could be expressed in 2 of two dimensions. First, the love of God could mean the love for God. Secondly, it could also mean God’s way of loving. But, most essentially, they are both shed abroad in our hearts.

This means we have the capacity, like Jesus, to give our all for the sake of love. If not, Christ would not have bid men, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Nor would we be encouraged to love like Christ and give our all for the brethren.

May I, therefore, ask you, my dear friend, if your type of love given in its full expression. Good that you have affection for the brethren, will you dare go past heartfelt love to arm-stretched one? Look at love on the cross: it was you at heart, with arms spread wide to welcome you back. Look at the love in Gethsemane, denying Himself his will, agreeing to be killed for you. Love gives and gives the maximum. Love has not given its best until it has nothing more to offer.

References

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Odunayo Rotimi
WRITTEN BY
Odunayo Rotimi