Love in Christian preaching underscores selfless commitment and divine justice, embodying both compassion and discipline to uphold righteousness (1 Corinthians 13:4-7). Illustrations often contrast love's courage to confront harsh realities with selfishness's blindness, highlighting love's role as active and protective care (1 John 4:7-8).
Loving people individually requires seeing Christ in them and in ourselves.
Then there's the man who said, "Lord, maybe Charlie Brown is right when he says he loves mankind, but it is people he cannot stand. You see, I love people in general more than I do individually.
"Lord, it is like the joke about the father who yelled at his kids when they walked in the wet cement of his sidewalk; he can love them in the abstract, but never in the concrete.
"Maybe I need to see a little more of You in them. And maybe I need to see a little more of You in me."
Loving enemies can transform hearts and reveal true religion.
An Armenian nurse had been held captive along with her brother by the Turks. Her brother was slain by a Turkish soldier before her eyes. Somehow she escaped and later became a nurse in a military hospital.
One day she was stunned to find that the same man who had killed her brother had been captured and brought wounded to the hospital where she worked. Something within her cried out "Vengeance." But a stronger voice called for her to love. She nursed the man back to health.
Finally, the recuperating soldier asked her, "Why didn't you let me die?" Her answer was, "I am a follower of Him who said, 'Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you'" (Luke 6:27).
Impressed with her answer, the young soldier replied, "I never heard such words before. Tell me more. I want this kind of religion."
An atmosphere of love in care reduces patients' recovery time significantly.
Some years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger, noted doctor and psychologist, was seeking the cause of many of his patients' ills. One day he called in his clinical staff and proceeded to unfold a plan for developing, in his clinic, an atmosphere of creative love. All patients were to be given large quantities of love; no unloving attitudes were to be displayed in the presence of the patients, and all nurses and doctors were to go about their work in and out of the various rooms with a loving attitude.
At the end of six months, the time spent by patients in the institution was cut in half.
True love absorbs others' faults and shows warmth and compassion.
Have you ever seen a tailor place a piece of absorbent paper over a spot of grease and press down on it with a hot iron? Why does he do it? The heat melts the grease, and the paper absorbs it. Real love absorbs the spots in the lives of others, making them feel the warmth of our own hearts for them. The Christian Grocer
A Christian grocer was in financial difficulties because his customers thought they could run up their bills indefinitely. They felt that such a saintly man would never press them for payment or take them to court. Their ready excuse was, "We don't have money to pay our bills." "How can I pay my creditors, if the people I have trusted do not pay me?" puzzled the grocer. What should a Christian do in such a case-believe all things and all men and go bankrupt? A novel idea came to him. He posted the following notice on the bulletin board in front of his store: "On this bulletin board, thirty days from now, will appear the names of all persons who have been indebted to me for one year or more and who, after repeated requests, have refused to pay! Some have told me that they are unable to pay, but they are able to build homes, drive cars, and have other things that I could have if I had the money due me. I hope I don't have to put any names on the board, but I won't be put off any longer!" Results followed immediately. Many paid their old accounts, while others promised to do so on the next payday. This grocer's action was wholly consistent with Christian love. He refused to believe the falsehoods of others and by so doing didn't allow them to continue in deceit and dishonesty. Love believes all things that encourages honesty and virtue in others. Love does not believe lies but endeavors to correct them.
Unchanging parental love can be the start of a sinner's redemption.
A young man who had committed a crime was sent to prison without his parents knowing about it. When he finally wrote and told them where he was, they hastened to the distant city to see him. Sullen and stony-faced, he greeted them in the visiting room. Braced for their recriminations and anger, he was completely unprepared for their loving concern. "I thought you would never forgive me-that you would disown me!" he cried. "Why should we do that?" asked his father. "You're our son, and we only want to help you." The fact that their love toward him had not changed was the beginning of that young man's redemption.
Real love embraces truth for redemption, not denial that enables sin.
A wife whose husband had embezzled thousands of dollars simply would not believe it of him. She loved her husband. So did a close friend, but this friend had to appear in court for the truth's sake and witness against him. The man was pronounced guilty by two courts and sentenced to a jail term, but his wife still refused to believe the truth. Was her kind of love of any help to his sinful and eternal condition? No, it only encouraged him to persist in perpetuating a lie. Real love is not blind to the truth. It does not reject truth for fear that it will not survive the blow. It accepts truth as the basis of the redemptive work of love. No Burden
An American missionary who was walking down the streets of a Chinese city was greatly interested in the children, many of whom were carrying smaller children upon their backs and managing at the same time to play their games. "It is too bad," the American sympathetically said to one little fellow, "that you have to carry such a heavy burden!" "He is no burden," came the quick reply; "He is my brother." "Well, you are chivalrous to say so!" said the man, and he gave the boy some money. When the missionary returned home he said to his family, "A little Chinese boy has taught me the fullest meaning of the words, 'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.' " He recounted his interview and added, "If a little Chinese boy can carry and care for his brother and refuse to consider him a burden, surely we ought not to think it a burden to carry our brother, the weak and the needy ones, who look to us for help. Let us rejoice as we carry one, and say, by our actions, 'He is no burden; he is my brother.' " An Act of Love
Let us imitate the barber who one week noticed that there was a good increase in his business. When he tried to find out why, he discovered that his competitor, another barber in the village, was ill. When the week ended, he took all that he had made above his average earnings and carried it to his competitor with his Christian love and sympathy.
A woman gives to win enemies to Christ despite her brother's murder by them.
I vividly remember an incident that took place at our Greek Keswick in Macedonia one year. The Lord had just opened the door for a special ministry among the Turks. After I announced it, a devout Christian woman came up to me, placed some Greek currency in my hand, and said, "I want this used to win Turks to Christ. They killed my brother, but I want to be the first to contribute to their cause." There will be a special reward for that woman at the day of judgment for believers.
True love includes discipline and justice to prevent harm and encourage obedience.
A young man speeding along a highway crashed into an oncoming car, and the resultant chain reaction caused the death and crippling of several innocent victims. Yet the judge, after only five minutes deliberation, let him go free. The ensuing public uproar caused a re-opening of the case and a conviction-although ultimately the sentence was suspended. The public outrage in this case, and in similar instances where justice is flouted, shows that men have a built-in recognition of the fact that, where wrongdoing goes unpunished, the law-abiding are threatened and the innocent victimized. Parental love cannot allow disobedience to go unchecked or let continued rejection of authority go unpunished. To do so would be to encourage anarchy and to discourage those who are trying to do what is right. The doctrine of love that the Lord Jesus Christ preached was no wishy-washy affair of permissiveness, of "anything goes," but was balanced by stern warnings about sinning against God and man.
Ignoring harsh realities out of selfishness leads to self-deception, not true optimism.
When Marie Antoinette came to Paris as a bride, not a single ragged or starving person appeared on the streets along which the splendid procession passed. France was seething with discontent at the time, born of dire poverty-a discontent that was later to break out in the horrors of the Revolution-but Marie Antoinette was not to know anything about that. So the poor starving populace were swept into the side streets where they could not be seen and kept penned up there so that Marie Antoinette might think all was happy and prosperous in Paris. But an optimism based on ignorance is not optimism at all. An optimism gained by a refusal to face the facts is deliberate self-deception. Fear to face reality stems from fear of the sacrifice and labor of love that may be involved. Selfishness turns away its face from the sorrows, shames, and failures of others. But love dares to look at the head bowed with grief and the face paled with suffering.
Love is the greatest virtue, lifting faith and hope like wings in spiritual life.
"Now abideth faith, hope, love,—these three; but the greatest of these is love:" for love is the seraph, and faith and hope are but the wings by which it flies.
— Beecher
Heavenly love energizes and dispels spiritual dullness like sunbeams melting ice.
Love is like the spirit in Ezekiel's wheels, that made them move so swiftly; so that dulness, sluggishness, and wearisomeness are quickly dispelled by heavenly love, as the ice is presently dissolved by the sunbeams. Burgess.
Love hides faults by covering a multitude of sins, showing its forgiving nature.
"Love covers a multitude of sins." When a scar cannot be taken away, the next kind office is to hide it.
Love is never so blind as when it is to spy faults. South.
Love compels, transforms, and reveals what no other sense can perceive or do.
That you may be beloved, be amiable. — Ovid. — Love will often make a wise man act like a fool. — Greville. — No cord or cable can draw so forcibly, or bind so fast, as love can do with only a single thread. — Burton. — Love sees what no eye sees; love hears what no ear hears; and what never rose in the heart of man, love prepares for its object. — Lavater. — The pleasure of love is in loving. — La Rochefoucauld. — They do not love that do not show their love. — Shakspeare. — Love is an alchemist, that can transmute poison into food. — Bolton. — The classic poets represent love as blind.
Believers drawn to Christ are united like spokes converging at a wheel's center.
As the spokes of a carriage-wheel approach their centre, they approach each other: so also, when men are brought to Jesus Christ, the centre of life and hope, they are drawn towards each other in brotherly relationship, and stand side by side journeying to their heavenly home.
— Rev. J. F. Serjeant
A miner sacrifices personal gain to help a sick brother, exemplifying brotherly love.
Thomas Samson was a working miner, and working hard for his bread. The captain of the mine said to him on one occasion, "Thomas, I've got an easier berth for you, where there is comparatively little to do, and where you can earn more money: will you accept it?" What do you think he said? "Captain, there's our poor brother Tregony. He has a sick body, and he is not able to work as hard as I am. I fear his toil will shorten his useful life. Will you let him have the berth?" The captain, pleased with his generosity, sent for Tregony, and gave him the berth, which he is now enjoying. Thomas was gratified, and added, "I can work a little longer yet."
— Sunday Magazine
True love is heartfelt and constant, not shown by gifts but by devotion.
The three sons of an Eastern lady were invited to furnish her with an expression of their love before she went away for a long journey. One brought a marble tablet, with the inscription of her name; another presented her with a rich garland of fragrant flowers. The third entered her presence, and thus addressed her: "Mother, I have neither marble tablet nor fragrant nosegay; but I have a heart: here your name is engraven; here your memory is precious. And this heart, full of affection, will follow you wherever you travel, and remain with you wherever you repose."
Love is naturally generous and cannot be kept to oneself.
LOVE, Generosity of A man may be a miser of his wealth; he may tie up his talent in a napkin; he may hug himself in his reputation: but he is always generous in his love. Love cannot stay at home: a man cannot keep it to himself. Like light, it is constantly travelling. A man must spend it, must give it away. Dr. Macleod.
Mothers show enduring love by keeping memorials of their deceased children.
LOVE, Instinct of Lander, during his journey in Africa, frequently met with mothers who carried about their persons little wooden images of their deceased infants, to whose lips they presented a portion of food whenever they partook of it themselves; and nothing could induce them to part with these inanimate memorials.
Love fills the heart with joy, coloring even dark times with hope.
When there is love in the heart, there are rainbows in the eyes, which cover every black cloud with gorgeous hues. Beecher.
A mother's love endures all hardships and hopes for her child's repentance.
The love of a mother is never exhausted; it never changes; it never tires. A father may turn his back on his child; brothers and sisters may become inveterate enemies; husbands may desert their wives; wives, their husbands. But a mother's love endures through all: in good repute, in bad repute, in the face of the world's condemnation, a mother still loves on, and still hopes that her child may turn from his evil ways, and repent. Still she remembers the infant smiles that once filled her bosom with rapture, the merry laugh, the joyful shout of childhood, the opening promise of his youth; and she can never be brought to think him unworthy.
— W. Irving
Patriotism is a natural love for one's country, like a mother's love for her children.
Patriotism, or the love of country, is so general, that even a desert is remembered with pleasure, provided it is our own. The Cretans called it by a name which indicated a mother's love for her children. The Ethiopian imagines that God made his sands and deserts, while angels only were employed in forming the rest of the globe. The Arabian tribe of Ouadelin conceive that the sun, moon, and stars rise only for them. The Maltese, insulated on a rock, distinguish their island by the appellation of "The Flower of the World;" and the Caribbees esteem their country a paradise, and themselves alone entitled to the name of men. Percy.
Greedy love of wealth can destroy and drag one down like a millstone.
When the Californian steamer, "The Central American," caught fire, and was sinking, the stewardess ran into the cabins of the passengers, collecting all the gold she could find, and tied it in an apron round her waist. A boat was ready to start. In her eagerness to be saved, she sprang from the deck, missed her aim, and shot head first into the water like a cannon-ball; the weight of her ill-gotten booty dragging her down as effectively as a millstone.
— Bib. Treasury
A caliph values the love behind a gift more than its physical purity or worth.
A poor Arab travelling in the desert met with a spring of sweet water. Accustomed as he was to brackish wells, to his simple mind it appeared that such water as this was worthy of a monarch; and, filling his leathern bottle from the spring, he determined to go and present it to the caliph himself. He travelled a considerable distance before he reached the presence of his sovereign, and laid his humble offering at his feet. The caliph did not despise the little gift brought to him with so much trouble. He ordered some of the water to be poured into a cup, drank it, and, thanking the Arab with a smile, ordered him to be presented with a reward. The courtiers around pressed forward, eager to taste of the wonderful water; but, to the surprise of all, the caliph forbade them to touch a single drop. After the poor Arab had departed, the caliph thus explained the motives of his conduct: "During the travels of the Arab, the water in this leathern bottle had become impure and distasteful; but it was an offering of love, and, as such, I have received it with pleasure. But I well knew, that, had I suffered another to partake of it, he would not have concealed his disgust; and therefore I forbade you to touch the draught, lest the heart of the poor man should have been wounded."
Cherish the living rather than wasting time grieving the dead.
A pale mourner stood bending over the tomb, and his tears fell fast and often. As he raised his humid eyes to heaven, he cried, "My brother! oh, my brother!" A sage passed that way, and said, "For whom dost thou mourn?"—"One," replied he, "whom I did not sufficiently love while living, but whose inestimable worth I now feel."—"What wouldst thou do if he were restored to thee?" The mourner replied that he would never offend him by an unkind word, but would take every occasion to show his friendship, if he could but come back to his fond embrace. "Then waste not thy time in useless grief," said the sage, "but, if thou hast friends, go and cherish the living, remembering that they will one day be dead also."
