Thursday: Love One Another
Peter next steers Christians to the ultimate expression of what living a holy and faithful life will be like.
Read 1 Peter 1:22-25. What crucial point is he making here about what it means to be a Christian?
Peter’s starting point is that Christians are already purified (“Seeing ye have purified . . .”), and are living in obedience to the truth (1 Pet. 1:22). The verb “purify” or “cleanse” is closely related to the words holy and holiness, which link back to what Peter wrote a few verses earlier (1 Pet. 1:15).
Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com
Through their commitment to Jesus, and through their baptism (compare 1 Pet. 3:21-22), Christians have purified themselves by setting themselves aside for God, and they do this by obeying the truth.
This change in their lives has the natural consequence so that they now find themselves in a close relationship with others who share a similar worldview. These relationships are so close that Peter uses the language of family to describe them. Christians are to act out of brotherly and sisterly love. The Greek word used in 1 Peter 1:22, when he talks about the “love of the brethren,” philadelphia, means literally “love of brother/sister.” It is the love that families have for one another.
There are several different words in Greek that are translated “love”: philia (friendship), eros (the passionate love of a husband and wife), agape (a pure love that seeks the good of the other). The word Peter uses when he writes “love one another fervently” (1 Pet. 1:22, NKJV) is linked to agape-which usually means the pure love that seeks the good of others. That’s certainly why he added the phrase to love one another “with a pure heart” (1 Pet. 1:22, NKJV), the kind of heart that comes from being “born again” (1 Pet. 1:23; see also 1 Pet. 1:3) through the incorruptible Word of God. This kind of love comes only from God; it’s not what a selfish, self-centered unregenerate heart will manifest, which is surely why Peter puts such an emphasis on being purified and on “obeying the truth” (1 Pet. 1:22). The truth is not just something believed; it must be lived.
| How can we learn to be more loving? What choices must we make in order to be able to manifest the kind of love that comes from a “pure heart”? |
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to be more loving is to be born again. without the regeneration of the spirit of God, it become difficult for a natural man to have the agape love we are talking here. Loving the unlovable is something flesh cannot do.Once Christ live in us the hope of eternal; he enable us to do that which himself have done and his still doing in us.
Peter says where this 'pure' love for one another comes from. Our choice is to become genuine children of God.
The type of love described in 1 Peter 1:22 we can't manufacture. It only comes from the relationship between we as believers and God. God the Father, gives us His Spirit, God the Son has gone before us and is now presenting His blood in our behalf in Heaven.
This Godly, pure love we can't just figure out and do. Many times it comes at a high price or sacrifice that only God can give us the strength to express genuinely and consistently.
It comes only as a result of connection with God.
It always amazes me to see how well and quick the apostle grasped the gospel in it's depth of meaning. When mistreated by someone they imidiately saw that as their next mission. They would love on these abusers and did all to their power to care for them. They did not even feel worthy of being mistreated, for it gave them part of Jesus' pure character and not just in theory. It humbled them to have been given that privilege. They did not blame or whisper underneath their breath profanities towards them. So how are we doing, today, with that part of Jesus character?
We can only learn to truly love others and see them as people of worth as we do so through the eyes and developing the character of Christ. As the Holy Spirit fill our lives, we are drawn to see and feel the needs of others. This can only be done through Christ - we cannot do it by ourselves. True love only comes from God; through Him we can love the unlovable, forgive the unforgivable, reach the unreachable. Love is practical and active.
How can we be more loving? As we meditate “day and night” on the “way of righteousness”, we will become earnest in our prayer for help, yielding ourselves fully to the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. The experience of the soul will be as the Psalmist who writes: “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed [thereto] according to thy word. With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Blessed [art] thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.” Only then can God work in us to "will and do of His good pleasure", which is to be filled with His love, thus fulfilling the law of His government, no longer in rebellion against is.
"Delight thyself in the LORD, and He will give thee the desires of thy heart" Ps 37:5. How can we delight in the Lord unless we have committed our way to Him, that He might create in us a clean heart, and renew a right Spirit within? Exercising faith in these "exceeding great and precious promises" will make us "partakers of the Divine nature"(2 Pe 1:4).
Thursday lesson: 2:15 am.Thank God
Love one another fervently:
Being a Christian, we have to follow many steps.
Number 1. We have to let God take complete control of our lives.
Number 2. We have to become like children and let God nurtures us with no worries. When negative things happen in their lives they immediately become friends again. Children have pure heart with love.
Number 3. We should have no doubts in the Lord, they lead us to wrong direction and shrink our relationship with our Lord.
Number 4. There come obedient, love patient, compassion, forgiveness respect, and Spirituality.
And 5h. We need to love our enemies, bless them, forgive them and pray for the ones that mistreated us.
These instructions are really tough to apply in our lives. Since we have Jesus Christ in our lives, we can do all these through Him, by praying and fasting. Our Savior Christ is our foundation.
May God bless us brothers and sisters.
Scriptural texts are often quoted as an application to an issue under discussion. The question regarding Agape love, was mentioned by several others with much similar thoughts. We, meaning most, do not have Agape love for others without help. Even then, is this a naturel emotion? The lesson study question at the bottom of the page, seems to indicate this is something that requires a dedicated effort to accomplish. Do we learn to be agape loving? We are all created with the ability to feel emotion. A particular emotion is usually provoked by particular or random situations. The three types of love often described as I see it, are natural emotions. We often question our motives and inclinations after we have not measured up to God's commands. Is there help led by the Holy Spirit, to make a difference in our attitude. The answer has to be, Yes.
The kind of love described in 1 Peter 1:22 used the word 'fervently' and I am drawn to the definition of the word in this text. The English dictionary describes it to be pure, genuine and sincere. Without the Holy Spirit living within us, it is not possible to show this kind of love to our brothers, sisters in Christ and to so many people particularly when we are battling with the influence of the devil daily. And, as the previous writer rightfully mentioned emotions, our thoughts are influenced by situations and life circumstances, without our love for Christ and to serve him, Agape love for others is impossible to achieve.