Love with Joy
"And the second is like it: ‘Love your neigbour as yourself’" (NIV) Mathew 22:39
Love is one of the most common words in the world but also one of the least understood, abused and misapplied words. Many people want to receive love but few are willing to give out love. It has been said that love is the soil from which all the other virtues of spiritual fruit grow. “Love is not one virtue among a list of virtues, but the sum and substance of what it means to be a Christian” (Ryken).
Love is actually difficult to define. There are many forms of love- eros, philia, agape etc. What differentiates biblical love (agape) from all others is its sacrificial nature. It is a type of love that gives without expecting anything in return. It is a sacrifice of one’s self for the sake of others, even for others who don’t care about us. Love is not primarily a feeling but a determined act of the will, which results in determining acts of self-giving. It is in light of this that the biblical description of love (1 Corinthians 13) does not focus on what love is but rather on what love does and does not do.
Without God, there is no love. Man cannot love except in the Lord. We must allow the Spirit of God to have control so that self-love (in the form of lust and greediness) dies and sacrificial love thrives. We need to allow God to love others through us and that will require us to be joyful all the time. This is because joy is considered as the spiritual response to the pleasure of knowing that God loves us and that our greatest delight is to have a good relationship with God and fellow humans. The Apostle Paul encouraged us to “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4) for Christ is the basis of our love and joy. People of God, rejoice in the salvation given by God, rejoice in suffering and rejoice in serving God and humanity. Show true love with joy.