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Love is unselfish

It seems almost needless to say that true love is unselfish. We read in 1 Corinthians 13:5, Love "does not seek its own." We see this in a family where love reigns. Neither the husband nor the wife live only for themselves. Sometimes children manifest selfishness, but the greater the love the less of that we see. Selfishness reigns in many homes where Christ is not enthroned, but when His love enters it will surely be expelled. Remember, selfishness is the opposite of love and is sin. Let us be sure it is not found in us. Let us learn to esteem each other, giving way to each other; helping each other.

 Scripture Reading : Colossians 3:14

             But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

Love—a perfect bond

After many exhortations in Colossians 3, the apostle here adds, "above all these things put on love." He hereby puts love in the preeminent place above everything else in Christian character. Love is like an overcoat enclosing all else, or like the capstone on a building above everything else. He adds, "which is the bond of perfection"—a perfect bond. As glue binds the parts of a piece of furniture together, or mortar a wall of bricks, so love binds a family or a local congregation of Christians. And if love is strong it will prove to be a perfect bond—a “bond of perfection.”

Love binds a home

It would be difficult to break up a home where love reigns. The children may leave home some day because of a greater love, or death may cause separation, but if true love is the foundation of the home, the divorce court has little chance. In our age there is an alarmingly growing number of homes destroyed by divorce. How the world needs the love of God. Regarding the problem of divorce facing the body of Christ today, a gracious, loving, experienced, and wis e servant of God, when asked by a younger preacher about whether a divorced couple should or should not be baptized, wrote the following answer:

As far as the problem you mentioned in your letter, this is a very difficult problem to answer and I doubt there is any one correct answer that can be given because every case is different and an examination of the heart of each and every ind ividual involved  would be necessary. Therefore, the only thing I can suggest to you in such a case is to read the Scriptures to them pertaining to Christ’s teachings on marriage, divorce and remarriage and do not be caught in the trap of being the judge of the situation. You are not the judge of whether or not there was a marriage in the first place and this is strictly something they will have to determine in their own heart, realizing that they must appear before the judgment seat of Christ to give an answer for these things. I deeply feel that the marriage was nev er acknowledged in the sight of God and they are truly repentant the only thing we can do is accept their own convictions and by all means baptize them. Personally, I just tell them what the Scriptures say and then I say to them, “Now, you must be the judge according to the Scriptures and if you repent of all of your sins, it is my responsibility to baptize you into Christ and God will judge whether or not you are repentant and adds you to His church.” I hope this answers the question for you. As I said before, there is no stock answer that can be given to these situations. I just wis h we could get the lesson across to our young people so convincingly that these mistakes would not be made in the first place.

Love binds Christians

So, too, true love will bind the people of God. Where there is real love you need not be concerned about a work of God going to pieces. Christians will not want to leave it, they will want to be at all the meetings possible. After a worship service they will not be coldly or quickly running out the door. They will love each other's company too much for that. They will not be quarrelling over every little thing, and if disagreements do arise it will not cause separation. You can take a great deal from those whom you love.

Practical Christianity binds

Any local congregation of the Lord's people will grow when love rules. The world will note it and be attracted to our Lord Jesus Christ. Souls will be saved and added to its fellowship. When needy saints are helped in a practical way they will always be bound to Christians. After being helped by the church, a needy new babe in Christ exclaimed to everyone, "Aren't Christians wonderful?" The early Christians certainly believed in helping each other. In Acts 4 we see how they had all things common and how none lacked anything. In Acts 6 we are told how Christians provided for  widows. In 1 Corinthians 16:15, we find the household of Stephanas "devoted themselves to the ministry of the saints." This mutual helpfulness no doubt was a factor in the growth of the early church. If bitterness, envy, and enmity are allowed to grow among Christians disintegration is sure to follow. Many a lighthouse has been extinguished, no longer shining over the dark wave because love died.

Love covers

1 Peter 4:8 says: “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’” If love is fervent, as Peter says, it will not expose, but will cover the faults of fellow Christians. How true this is at home. If a man really and truly loves his wife he will not be busy telling others of her failings. It can be rightly concluded that when a man goes around speaking evil of his wife, his love has died; that is, if he ever had true love for her. When Christians gossip about their fellow Christians you can likewise mark it down that their love is small, if it is there at all.

A gossip does not love

Idle talk can do a lot of damage. Gossip is like throwing a bag of feathers around an area. You can spread them out far and wide, but you cannot pick all of them up again.

Tell the Christians’ virtues

All of us have failings. We can do one of two things with the faults of fellow Christians. We can expose them and make them seem worse than they are, or we can cover them up so that others do not see them. You will never get anyone to come to your congregation if you tell them all about the faults of those who attend. They will say, "That must be a bad place; I don't want to go there and waste my time." However, if you tell them all the virtues of the saints they may attend.

Noah’s nakedness covered

We have a good example of love covering sins in connection with Noah. Noah drank too much wine and lay uncovered and naked in his tent. Shem and Japheth took a garment and walked backward so they would not see his nakedness and covered him. This is what true love does; it seeks not to see its object's sin, but to cover it. Are we like Shem and Japheth?

Serious sins must be dealt with

Of course, we must deal with serious sins among Christians. However, unless the sin has been wide open and affects the whole band of Christians, such should first be dealt with in a personal way. If it is personal or secret, the Scripture says to go to your brother alone (Matt. 18:15). If he will not listen then take one or two with you, and then if he will not listen, tell it to the church. Sometimes, serious immorality is purposely covered up. Later it breaks out into the open and causes much harm to the body of Christ. If possible it is better to nip such things in the bud, rather than to wait until they become open sores.

Confess our own sins

It is never wise to cover up one's own sins before the Lord or before man. In Proverbs 28:13 we read, "He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whosoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy." The natural tendency is to cover one's own sins, exposing those of others. Experience in prison work teaches that there is seldom an admittedly guilty person behind bars—usually always it is someone else's fault. The blame may be laid on companions, the judge, or someone who framed them. Some even blame their wives or husbands. Rarely does one confess, "I am guilty." Most of the time it is the other fellow. This is the reason so few obey Christ and are born again; they simply will not plead guilty before the Lord. Christians should be different. When in the wrong we should confess it and forsake it.

The Apostle John and love

Tradition says that when the apostle John was old and could no longer walk, they carried him to worship. They would then lift him to his feet and he would give a few words of godly counsel, always with these words "Little children, love one another." Oh, how we need more like him today. No doubt troubles among God's people would be far fewer.