Colossians 3:14 (NET) “And to all these virtues add love, which is the perfect bond.”
Do you have that one piece of clothing that just goes really well with everything else that you put on, or a part of your outfit that sort of defines you? I remember being around people (actually come to think of it, I was one of those people) that wore the same uniform everyday for work, then you would see them outside of work and they still were wearing something very similar. Or how about that uncle that is always in his favorite set of Bibs. You kind of know and expect that that person is going to be wearing something like that when you see them (FYI – my wife tells me that the most successful people in the world are people who dress the same all the time and are consistent in the way they look!). Alright, before I go too much deeper into a topic that I certainly am not qualified to be discussing, let’s look at Colossians 3:14 today and find out what article of our wardrobe will always fit and accentuate all of the other pieces of Spiritual clothes we put on that day!
Love
In our verse today, it says that love is the perfect bond that holds together all of the other virtues! Now there is some confusion about the word love and its implications in our world today (e.g. I love that hamburger form Hardee’s, I love you honey, I love the Browns, etc.). I hope by the end of this blog, you will more fully appreciate and understand the word that is used here to wear as the bonding agent for all other virtues!
The four words that define the expressions of love Biblically.
Storge – an empathy bond. This is a familial love. It is like an instinctual love that is given from a parent to their offspring.
Philia – a friendship love. This type of love is often used in the Scriptures for referring to love, affection, kindness, hospitality, etc. We know this word from the city of Brotherly love – Philadelphia.
Eros – which means an erotic, or romantic love. This word (according to C.S. Lewis) is used to describe being in love or loving someone. (This word is not actually in the Bible, but the concept is there for sure)
Agape– this is a sacrificial, unconditional, “God-type” of love. This type of love is constant and doesn’t change regardless of the circumstances in our lives. We will be discussing this type of love in this post.
Agape love – Your wardrobe could definitely use this!
Have you ever said that you agape someone? I am guessing not. But have you ever had that type of love where you would do anything for them and literally lay yourself down for them? I know that I have an agape love for my wife and children, my mom and dad, my brothers and sisters, and others that are very close to me. I want to be sacrificial and unconditionally loving to all of those people in my life, and I make an effort to do so. The Bible tells me to have that love for everyone! That is a different standard altogether. I don’t want to love some people. I don’t want to like some people. But, God’s ways are higher than my ways, so I must make the choice to love them regardless of how I feel because love (agape love) goes beyond feelings.
At this point I think it will be helpful to define love (agape love) as the Bible does. For this we will go to 1 Corinthians 13:4-8(a).
The Way of Love
1 Corinthians 13:4–8(a) (NET): "Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
Agape love is:
- Patient
- Kind
- Not envious
- Is not arrogant
- Is not rude
- Is not self-serving (selfish)
- Is not easily angered
- Rejoices with the truth
- Seeks the best for people, especially those who are being treated unfairly
- It bears all things
- It believes all things
- It hopes all things
- It endures all things
- Agape love never fails
Wow! What a list of great character traits to have as a part of our M.O. (Modus operandi). Try to imagine a person in your life that has this sort of disposition, now think of how much you like being around that person. Don’t we want to be a person like that to others? I know that I want to be that type of person that others can count on to be loving and sacrificial in my expression of that love.
All throughout the Bible we can see the importance that God places on being loving to others, and to Him. Actually, the most important of all of the commandments are to love God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength and the second is to love others as you love yourself (see Matt 22:36-40). All of the other commandments in the Bible are accomplished when we love perfectly (i.e. not going to murder someone when you love them, not going to steal their property if you are acting in love, etc.)! That is the power of love. That is why it is the bonding agent for all other virtues.
For example, try to be kind to someone without loving them, or try to be compassionate towards someone without having love in your heart (actually those attributes are evidences of the love that we do have in our hearts). I am here to say that it will be impossible to do these things with a pure motive that is truly seeking nothing but the best for the other person and nothing for ourselves! The reason we struggle with this is because we are selfish, and many of us do not really understand how to love someone who is unlovable in our minds. Circumstances come up, personalities play a role, untrustworthiness is an issue, and so-on. My question is this, does God’s love for those people change (Romans 8:38-39)? If your answer is no (congrats on having the right answer ?!) then why would our love change for them? This is the hardest aspect of our walk with Christ, in my humble opinion, loving those that are deemed unlovable. I think when we realize that we were the unlovable one at one point or another in our lives, is when we will start to apply grace to those that are really difficult to love. When we make the choice to love and don’t wait for the feeling to love, that will bring a breakthrough in this area of our lives!
How do I apply this?
Philippians 2:3-5 gives us a clue; “Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,”
- Humble ourselves. We need to see others as valuable and worthy of our love and the love of God, because that is what we all need too.
- Be considerate. This is huge because it means that we are looking out for the other person’s best interests, and when we do that we are fulfilling the law of love!
- Have the attitude of Christ. If there is anyone who perfectly loves, it is Jesus. While we were still sinning, Christ died for us according to Romans 5:8. That death was the evidence of His undying love for us! No greater love has anyone than this, that you lay down your lives for another (see John 15:13). He laid down His life for people that were spitting on Him and mocking Him, then He asked God to forgive them! That is love!
- Be motivated by serving others before yourself. This concept is so critical when we are considering how to love others perfectly. Jesus endured the Cross for the joy set before Him (see Heb 12:2), and I believe one of the main joys for Him was to know that His sacrifice was the act of love that will turn so many hearts to God in order to be delivered from their sins!
So, to answer Tina Turner’s question – “What’s Love got to do, got to do with it?”. The Biblical answer is – everything! Our love for God and others is the most excellent way (see 1 Cor 12:31) to live out our Christian faith and values. Love is the bonding agent that holds all of the other fruits/virtues together. Love is the article of Spiritual clothing that will make all of our other articles compliment each other and look more appealing and attractive to others! Love is paramount in our Christianity, as it says in 1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Go now and show someone that you love them!
