Galatians 5:6
The most over used word in the English language and the most
misunderstood word is “Love”. We
use the word love to explain what color we want to paint our house; I love that
color, and we use the word love when ordering our food; I just love that bread,
and we use the word love when we go to church; I just loved that sermon, and we
use the word love to proclaim our love for our children; and we use the word
love to state our love for God. In view of the fact that love is used to
explain your feeling and emotion for paint, and the same word is used to
describe your affection for you Father in heaven, it leaves one to wonder; do
they love paint that is going on the wall in the same manner as they love the
God who created and redeemed them?
My premise is built on observations of people in all aspects
of life; at church, at home, in the work place, and at the mall, they use the
word love all the time, and it is used as a method to distinguish between likes
and dislikes, most of the time, and most of us are not passionate or
emotionally involved, with a color of paint. Now your argument might be that people that we come in
contact with just know what we mean when the word “Love” is used, but is that
not absurd, in that our word are so often misunderstood, and often it is the
misunderstanding of words that cause families and friendships to be
broken? Is it not illogical to
believe that a small child can understand the definition you have put on a word
like “love,” when you use it to describe your love for them, and in the same
breath you say how you love, the neighbors new yard.
In Galatians 5:6, “For in Christ
Jesus neither circumcision nor Uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith
expressing itself through love.” Would
it not seem important to have and to use the correct meaning of the word “love”
if it is the only thing of value when living by faith? Now faith is very important in that
both Romans 14:23 tells us, that whatever is not from faith is sin, and Hebrews
11:6, tell us, that without faith it is impossible to please God. The apostle John was very concerned
about our understanding of the word “Love” so much that he defined love for us.
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from
God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know
God, because God is love.” (1John 5:7-8) If you keep reading in 1John 5:16, “So
we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. (It
is only at this point we begin to have the freedom to love and be loved) God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God,
and God abides in him.”
I like you have grown up with the word “love” being used to
describe most anything we like; food, clothing, toys, friends, mother or dad,
and also God, but is that the message of Galatians 5:6, and does it give the
lost world any understanding of the expression of love that God showed for us
by asking his Son to take our place and die for our sin?
From the Back Porch,
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