Friday: Further Thought – A Portrait of Love
Daily Lesson for Friday 14th of August 2026
Further Thought:
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“No matter how high the profession, he whose heart is not filled with love for God and his fellow men is not a true disciple of Christ. Though he should possess great faith and have power even to work miracles, yet without love his faith would be worthless. He might display great liberality; but should he, from some other motive than genuine love, bestow all his goods to feed the poor, the act would not commend him to the favor of God. In his zeal he might even meet a martyr’s death, yet if not actuated by love, he would be regarded by God as a deluded enthusiast or an ambitious hypocrite.”—Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, Pages 318, 319.
“We have an abundance of sermonizing. What is most needed . . . is love for perishing souls, that love which comes in rich currents from the throne of God. True Christianity diffuses love through the whole being. It touches every vital part, the brain, the heart, the helping hands, the feet, enabling men to stand firmly where God requires them to stand, so that they will not make crooked paths for their feet, lest the lame be turned out of the way. The burning, consuming love of Christ for perishing souls is the life of the whole system of Christianity.”—Ellen G. White, Lift Him Up, p. 134.
“Only the love that flows from the heart of Christ can heal. Only he in whom that love flows, even as the sap in the tree or the blood in the body, can restore the wounded soul.”—Ellen G. White, Education, p. 114.
Discussion Questions
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This is the most important quote for this week.
A fully charged battery is of little use when all it does is sit of the shelf. It must be connected to a light and switched on before it is useful. Love is much the same. A week of Sabbath School lessons about love should do more than teach us to define and describe it. It should be a springboard for action. It is time to convert potential energy into kinetic energy! (Ask a physicist if you don’t know what that means.)
Paul in 1 Corinthians 13 declares that faith, hope, and love abide, but the greatest of these is love. Paul was not merely giving a suggestion or a beautiful conclusion. Rather, He was laying a foundation for what comes next in chapter 14: “Pursue love.” The apostle notes that pursuing love involves making intentional choices with the help of the Holy Spirit in us. Pursuing love means loving the unlovable, praying for those who make our lives harder and who may be “very annoying,” and pursuing the lost and lonely souls. We need to ask God to make us people who deeply love, a people who delight in opportunities to sacrifice and love others.
Paul, in chapter 1 corinthians chapter 14, emphasises the supremacy of love to the pursuit of love. The word “pursue” means to chase after, to diligently seek. Paul is keen to let us know that love is not only to be admired or defined, but love is to be pursued. With the Corinthians’ fascination with spiritual gifts, Paul intended that they understand that any spiritual gift without love was self-centered, confusing, and unprofitable to the church. Paul’s intention further was to deepen understanding that love must govern everything. By saying, “Pursue love,” he was showing us that the greatest virtue—love—must become the guiding principle. If love is greatest, then love must lead.
To live a loving life is to be purposeful with who we spend time with, where we invest our energy, and how we use our resources. Naturally, our tendency is to buddy up with people we already know, prioritize fun activities, and use our resources for ourselves. Paul is imploring us, just like he did the Corinthian church, to love those who were different from them, for they too were in the body of Christ. We need to pursue service and give to those in need in our midst. We must grow in love by being patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not rude, not insistent in our own ways, not irritable, not resentful, and more (1 Corinthians 13:4–7). It is this we are to pursue—it is this we are to intentionally seek.
Sometimes it is easy to be so focused on love per se, that we can get confused about what some elements of love in action looks like.
I am specifically thinking of the difference between love “bearing all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7), and love “tolerating” all things.
At first glance, the above text does invite some questions. For example: If love believes all things, then does “love” believe that sleeping with your step-mother is acceptable? Clearly not, because Paul already addressed this in chapter 5. Does “love” “rejoice in iniquity”? No – Paul just said it doesn’t (verse 6). This suggests that Paul’s description of love needs to be understood within the boundaries Paul himself has already set. This is where we need to turn to the rest of scripture and use correct Bible Study methods.
Psalm 11:7 tells us that, God “is righteous” and “loves righteousness”; Psalm 97:10 says, “You who love the LORD, hate evil.”
I think there is an important distinction that needs to be made between bearing all things and tolerating all things.
So, while we often hear God’s love as limitless, we should not confuse limitless love with limitless tolerance of evil. This ties into another dimension of love – justice. Love without justice becomes permissive, but justice without love can lead to cruelty. Biblically speaking, love rejoices in truth, opposes wrongdoing, and promotes good.
To my understanding Love is an exceedingly powerful and dynamic force. It sparkles in your eyes, it echoes in your voice and exudes from your personal ambience.
When the woman who had the problem of “issuing blood” touched the hem of Jesus’s garment, His response was; “Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.” Luke 8:46 KJV. Virtue can be defined as ” the healing power of love”.
It is love that is the essential “Charisma of the Spirit” It is that “mysterious and indescribable fragrance” that pervades who we are as Christians and all we do.
It is the energizer and life giving property to every other Spiritual Gift. So awesome is this gift that that the Beloved Apostle John could find no other quality that captures the personality of God; when he declared “for God is love” 1 John 4:8 KJV.
We have spent a week in the laboratory, in the classroom, evaluating, analyzing, and defining the greatest and most powerful attribute of the universe, the attribute of love. We have discovered once again if not for the first time how true love behaves and doesn’t behave.
The whole purpose of discovery and learning is the practical application of what we have dissected all week. To build on Maurice’s analogy of a fully charged battery, it’s time to take that fully charged battery to the streets to empower our “love light” to shine out into a world of darkness that is largely starving for a demonstration of genuine godliness lived out in the life of a Christian, and the greater Christian church.
Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another”. (John 13:35) This verse inspired the famous modern hymn “They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love” written by a Catholic priest named Peter Scholtes in the 1960s. I attended Catholic Elementary school in the mid sixties to mid seventies and remember well learning this song. It’s past time that we put the theory into practice and take it to the streets, loving them like Jesus did.
By God’s Grace I want to be that kind of Christian. How about you?
In looking to read more from The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald,
I found all of these deep and insightful comments from others pursuing love.
Oh how Blessed 🙏 God is speaking through His vessels♥️
“The burning, consuming love of Christ for perishing souls is the life of the whole system of Christianity.” Ellen G. White (quote from this lesson). When being void of God’s Love, the whole system would be dead.
It appears, the life of the “whole system of Christianity” has, to a certain point, lost its way and become self-serving. It shifted its focus from learning to love – teaching their members to live Jesus Christ’s Love – to counting the ‘numbers’ and worrying about the bottom line.
God giving mankind the gift of His Love in the form of His Son and His Holy Spirit, enabling us to love Him and be kind to our fellow man, is heaven’s gift to rescue mankind from destruction – self-destruction. God does not destroy man, man destroys himself whithout God’s Love.
We have been given clear definitions of His heavenly Love. We know what this Love does and what it does not do. But do we actually elevate His Love to the place of highest priority in our daily life, which it deserves? When we confess that God is Love but then turn away from ‘loving our neighbor’, do we not turn our back on God? Does He condemn us for this? Does He abandon His rescue efforts by His Love to save mankind? No!! He has committed Himself until the end to reach us by/with His Love.
Loving and living righteously are synonymous, though no one can be called ‘good’ by God’s standard. After all, ultimately, ‘Love’ and ‘loving’ are God’s expressions of His Glory. All we do ought to be done for His Glory. By and with His Love God elevates man – calling us His Children. 1 John 3:1; John 1:12; 2 Cor.6:189; Gal.3:26.
What I would add to the list is speaking up for the voiceless. It is not enough for good people to simply shrug their shoulders in horror when they read—if they even choose to read—the accounts surrounding the Epstein list. That’s just one example. I believe this is where the biblical concept of “prophesying” applies so well: speaking truth, confronting injustice, and taking action on behalf of the poor, the fatherless, the orphaned, and the vulnerable.
I don’t believe love is always silent or gentle in appearance. Sometimes love has to be firm, loud, courageous, and determined. We cannot refuse to talk about things simply because they are uncomfortable or considered taboo. Love has to be applicable, actionable, and relatable—in a way where the victim feels heard, protected, and believed, while even the offender is given a path toward accountability and hope.
I have a real problem with good people remaining silent when horrible things are happening. Sometimes love does not look like a fuzzy blanket or comforting words. Sometimes love looks like Jesus overturning the tables in the temple and confronting those who were exploiting what was sacred. That, too, was love in action.
In the same way, we as people need to be willing to stir the pot when innocent children are at stake. We cannot stay quiet simply to preserve peace or avoid making people uncomfortable. Silence in the face of injustice is not always love.
Ultimately, I believe that at the end of time, the motives behind our actions will be revealed. God will know who acted out of genuine love, who remained silent out of fear, and who was willing to speak and act when it mattered.
O amor é simplesmente Deus, Sua infinita graça, a salvação dos homens. Não apenas foi na cruz, ainda é, sempre será o amor por toda eternidade…
O retrato, a pintura ternura expressa que ama o universo que fez.
Google Translation:
Love is simply God—His infinite grace, the salvation of mankind. It was not only on the cross; it still is, and always will be, love throughout all eternity…
The portrait, the painting, expresses the tenderness that loves the universe He created.
Love cannot be a profession; love has to be natural. Love cannot be bought or sold; love is too precious to have a price! What is missing in our churches and society is the love for the Source of all love: God!