I Ths. 3:12 ... "May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all people."
Long before Christ came to earth Jewish scholars debated the question about which of the Mosaic laws was the greatest. Or, to express it another way, which of the laws was most fundamental? What law was the base upon which all the others rested? A couple of generations before the birth of Jesus there was an eminent rabbi named Hillel. It was said that one day a Gentile, contemptuous of the bulky Mosaic Law, met Hillel and challenged him to stand on one foot while he recited the whole of it. Without expression the old man lifted one foot and quoted Dty. 6:5, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and all your might." Then he said, "The rest is commentary." Putting his foot back on the ground, he resumed his walk down the street. Hillel and the other rabbis reached this conclusion by careful, analytical study of the Scriptures, and they were entirely correct. The apostle Paul stated the same conclusion by divine inspiration in these words of Rom. 13:8-10, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law. For this, 'You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not covet,' and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law."
Jesus Himself declared that the first commandment is to love God with all your ability. He then said that the second commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself, (Mat. 22:37-40). Paul called the way of love a "more excellent way," (I Cor. 12:31). Then, comparing it to the other things men covet, he said that "the greatest of these is love," (I Cor. 13:13). One's identity in Christ is established by the love he has for Him (Jno. 14:15), and for God the Father (I Jno. 4:8), and for the children of God (I Jno. 4:12, 21). In fact, one of the major requirements of Christianity is to love even one's enemies (Mat. 5:44). Perfect love is the thing on earth that is most like heaven. According to Gal. 5:22, the first fruit which the Holy Spirit imparts to the Christian is love. The same thing is stated in Rom. 5:5, "The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."
Love is therefore so essential to Christian life that, if it is removed, nothing remains but a pale corpse. The love that permeates Christians with the color and energy of spiritual vitality does not come by inheritance. Though it is developed by the grace of God and through the instrumentality of the Holy Spirit, as we have just seen, it is not bestowed as a gift in all its fullness. Neither is it absorbed from other Christians by some sort of spiritual osmosis. Rather, love must be sought by one who recognizes its supreme value and its ability to lift one upward toward God, who is the pure essence of love (I Jno. 4:8). It must be learned by diligence and developed through steadfast exercise. The great objective of Christianity, which is the theme of the lead text above, is to "increase in love" continually until it "abounds" in your life, that is, until it runs over with the excess of its beautiful, constructive fruit in your attitude, speech and conduct. All of this is possible when you look unto the Lord, who is the Epitome of love, and who nurtures the same in those who prize it and labor for it.
In I Jno. 4:19 it says that "we love, because He first loved us." When we begin to fathom the great love that God has for us, love so great that He gave His only Son to die for a lost and inimical world. our response is to begin to love Him in return. As love toward God grows, it spreads out to encompass love for our fellow men (I Jno. 4:20), who are also made in the similitude of God. Love lifts us out of a shell of selfishness and directs us toward God. Then it leads us to bless people about us, enabling us to introduce them to the same grace which has so blessed us.
