When someone tells you they love you, it may take time to discern if it is real or hypocritical. This can be unnerving to try to figure out. We may feel they said it because there is something they want from us. In the world in which we live today, we tend to put our guard up because we don’t want to be used for some ulterior motive. It may be because our trust has been abused before and we judge others by the actions of someone else. If this is you pray and ask God to help you to love without prejudging people. In Romans 12:9, the command is to love without dissimulation. In the Greek language, it means without hypocrisy. Our love is to be real! It is to be genuine.
Romans 12:9 “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”
Real love will exhibit itself in its actions. In I John 3:18, we are taught to love in things we do. In other words, your talk must be backed up by your walk. If it is real love it will not be done out of duty, there will be a desire that comes from the heart to do for others. Our lives will be characterized by kindness and deeds of charity.
1 John 3:18 “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
In I Peter 1:22, we are to love one another with a pure heart fervently. The way to do this is stated in the proceeding words. We first must be saved, purified by the Holy Spirit, through our obedience. The word unfeigned means sincere. This happens when we allow the Holy Spirit to apply truth to our hearts. Peter tells us that now that we are saved and living for the Lord, we are to love one another with a pure heart, as Paul stated in Romans 12:9, but Peter adds the word fervently. The word fervently means intensely. Intense means to be extreme. Our love should be above and beyond what the world classifies as love. The world says, “I’ll love you if you love me,” “I’ll love you if you are good to me,” Jesus said in Matthew 5:44, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” This is not natural to us. The sinful nature rises up and justifies unloving actions, but the Holy Spirit will empower us to do the unnatural if we will yield.
I Peter 1:22 “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”
Our love is to be so real that the world’s love pales in comparison to it. It should be obvious to others that we are different. There is no love that compares to God’s love. It is sacrificial. He gave His Son for us. It is not partial. He loves the entire world. We see that in John 3:16, for God so loved the world. It is uncontainable and cannot be measured. Ephesians 3:17-19 we see God’s love cannot be comprehended. This is the love that we are to mimic. We will never achieve this kind of love to perfection because we still have a sinful nature, but we are to seek it and continue to strive for it.
Ephesians 3:17-19 “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”
God’s love is one thing we can be sure of in Romans 8:38-39; nothing can separate us from His love. He loved us before we loved Him. When we were lost in sin, He still loved us. His Holiness won’t allow Him to “love us into Heaven,” as some think, because He is a holy God, he cannot allow sin into Heaven. Yet, He still loves us and pleads for us to accept His Son as our Savior.
Romans 8:39-39 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Examine yourself today and see if your love is real, godly love. Think about the ones you do not love and ask God to help you. If you are sincere, He will help you to do it.
