It's In the Air

Jesus Te Ama. 我爱你. I love you.

I find it interesting that those of us travelling on short-term missions trips (of which I did several) usually learn an interesting mix of phrases. We start of with, "Hello". Then if we get comfortable we master the necessary, "Thank you", "Where is the bathroom", and "I'm sorry." But those of us feeling very confident in our linguistic mastery and pious for our mission will graduate quickly to "I love you."

God's love is something we should certainly learn to say in any language that someone can understand. It's worth translating. It's worth being shouted from a mountain top. However, it's so interesting that we would want to say something like that so soon. I mean, we're only going to be there for a week. Can we really love someone in that amount of time? 

My point is that I think we misunderstand the depth of love. I think we share it flippantly at times, and find it overused. We say things like "I guess I've got to love him, but man! I just can't stand when he does that." Or better yet, "Yeah, I think I love my neighbors. I mean, I wave at them when I drive by..." Or even, "I love you Lord, and I lift my voice..."

So what does it mean to love? I'm about a month late on this one, but I guess that'll have to do. What does it mean to really love someone or something? Can we grow in our love? Can we stop loving? Is it a feeling or an action?

If you're reading this, I am sure that you (just like me) have heard how love is more than a feeling (thanks, Boston). Many have explained to me how love is more about choosing to give yourself to someone. After all, God so loved the world that He gave His only son. As true as that is, it is still abstract to me. I have found Paul much more helpful as he instructed his young, newly-appointed pastor Timothy.

In 1 Timothy 1, Paul starts out by reminding Timothy that he needs to stay put to straighten out some guys as far as what concerns true doctrine and what is fitting to be used to instruct the people. The purpose of this, he says, is love. What is so profound about this to me, is not that the purpose of correct doctrines, or staying put to correct such doctrines, is love. No. What stands out to me is the map that follows of how we get to love.

⁵ The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith (coloring mine).

Paul is saying here that love comes from three things: a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Obviously, where something comes from tells a lot about the thing itself. The fact that I'm from Mississippi and Arkansas usually leads people to believe that I speak slowly and have calloused feet from walking around without shoes. Where love comes from hints at some attributes that it might have.

First, love comes from a pure heart. As I imagined the people that I flippantly said I loved, this piece of love struck me the most. A pure heart. If I am to love someone I have to have a pure heart in love toward them. I am sure this means many things, but one of them is this: If you want to love someone (or make your words come true) then you have to actually want to love them. You see, you can have a pure heart toward someone if you are only "loving" them in order to tell someone else about how God is moving in your life or what marvelous things He is doing through you. You can't love someone if you are trying to get something else from them. You have to have a pure heart.

Secondly, love comes from a good conscience. I'm not sure if this what Paul meant, but in my mind a good conscience is a clear one. It could also mean one that works correctly, and directs you toward God, but let me focus on it being clear. In order to love someone, you must have a clear conscience before them. That's exactly what went wrong in the garden. Love for God was dispelled because our consciences weren't clear any more. We were trying to hide something. In order for us to grow in love for someone we now actually want to love, we must confess our sin. We must confess how we were only pretending to love them in order to look neighborly. We must at least confess it to the Lord, and have him absolve us from our sin. Love demands a clear conscience.

Lastly, love comes from a sincere faith. Now, here's where it all comes together. We can love only if we have good intentions (a pure heart), and confess where we've gone wrong (a good conscience), but that's not enough. To have only started along the way, and recognized that you've gotten off track, is not enough to love someone. You must have a sincere faith. But a faith in what? A faith that the other person will receive you? Maybe. Sincerity in expression your mistakes? Possibly.

What I think is hidden here is an allusion to the mystery of godliness that Paul talks about in Chapter 3 - that God was manifested in the flesh. You see, true love requires a sincere faith that there is one who has come with true love to give himself on your behalf. There is one who has come to make up for your good intentions gone awry. There is one who has enabled you to not only intend to love someone, and see that you've gone astray, but He has come and sent his spirit to enable you to actually love them as He has loved you.

So love is more than a feeling. It starts with a feeling and some good intentions (a pure heart). But we quickly see that we don't measure up, and need to confess our shortcomings (a good conscience). And praise the Living God, who came to love us, and now only requires our faith to be accepted.