God is Love But Do We Really Have to Love Everybody?

Valentine’s Day Vs. Real Love

Scripture tells us that God is love and He loves us.  If I want to follow in His footsteps do I really have to love everybody? Some people we come into contact with just rub us the wrong way or don’t share our values. Being honest with ourselves we would have to admit that we do not like them at all.  How do we love the unlovable?

We celebrate Valentine’s Day this weekend. It is a multi-millon deal in America with cards, candy, flowers and special dinners. We want to shower people we like with gifts on this special occassion but do we love them?  Based on our feelings, it may depend on several factors.  I am so glad that God’s love is unconditional.

The ancient Greeks identified several distinct types of love, most notably Eros (romantic/passionate love), Philia (affectionate, friendship love), and Agape (selfless/unconditional love).We need to understand that real love is not the romantic, mushy feelings portrayed in movies. The Apostle Paul gave a fairly clear definition of God’s kind of love.  This verse is often read at weddings but he meant us to show God’s love in everyday living.  Here is the key, loving others isn’t about me!

Remember A Little About God’s Love

God’s love  (agape) is sacrificial, steadfast and unconditional.  We can’t do anything to earn it and nothing can separate us from His love.

Psalm 36:5    Your steadfast love, O LORD, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.

John 3:16   “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 5:7–8    For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 8:39 ..nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

Do We Have to Love Everyone?   How?

The answer is yes.  To be a follower of Christ we are commanded to love everyone. Remember that this is not the same Valentine’s day type of lovey-dovey. We are commanded to show God’s infinite and powerful love.  This does not mean we have to like or tolerate someone’s bad behavior and we are not told to put up with abuse. We can respond with kindness and pray for others.

Matthew 5:44    But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

Luke 10:27 …  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

1 John 4:7–8    Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.   Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:20   If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

Sometimes other people are hard to love and so are we.  But God’s love for us and in us will guide us in how to live and love well.