Weekly Articles

                                                                                    Love Must Be Sincere

“[Let your] love be sincere (a real thing); hate what is evil [loathe all ungodliness, turn in horror from wickedness], but hold fast to that which is good”   Romans 12:9 Amplified

The bible states in Romans 5:5 that the “love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” This love is the same unconditional love that God has always had for us. It is defined in the original Greek by this word “agape” whose underlying essence is that of a supremely self-sacrificing love. It conveys the idea of a deep compassion that is given through the supreme self-sacrificial actions of Christ on the cross in association with the mercy and kindness of God. Romans 5:8 Amplified explains that God showed us this love not based on what we do, what we have, or what we achieve, but solely because of who He is; God is love (1 John 4:8). It says, “God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were sinners, Christ died for us.” 

Love is the central theme of Christianity, and is deep rooted in the bible. It is the subject throughout the bible which identifies the relationship of God towards mankind. It was by love that God gave to an undeserving people a gift which saved us from what we rightly deserved. While we were yet sinners, going our own way in complete rebellion against God and the things of God, He commendeth (Romans 5:8), meaning He introduced, or exhibited this love He had for us by sending His Son to die in our place and save us (John 3:16, 17) from the wrath which we incurred by our sin nature that we inherited from Adam, who transgressed in the Garden of Eden, thus bringing sin into our lives. We must clearly understand that love is the principal and chief thing of this life of faith

(1 Corinthians 13:13).

Walking in and displaying the love of God is a choice that we make because of our desire to be obedient to God and reciprocate His love. First John 4:19 reads “we love Him, because He first loved us” and we possess the same ability to love just as He does because this agape love of God has been given to us by His Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5) as well. It is a love that must be cultivated. Just because we possess it through our new birth does not mean that we automatically walk in a sincere love as Jesus did.  A sincere love must be developed. To love God with all your heart, mind and soul will place a desire within you to be obedient to the words of God to love, even in uncomfortable situations when your flesh is screaming to retaliate whenever you experience hurt and are offended. Your love won’t be sincere until you learn to love through the hurt and pain because of your desire to please God by being obedient to Him. Operating in, and displaying love according to Matthew 5:44 when Jesus told us to “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” is the development of a love that becomes sincere. When you can lose sight of how your emotions are crying out to react during a time like this you will develop in a love which displays the same compassion Jesus showed toward men when He was on the cross and prayed for His accusers forgiveness (Luke 22:34). Jesus did not have to pretend to love, but was an example to the world of what a sincere love is. First Peter 4:8 Amplified describes a sincere love when it says, “above all things have intense and unfailing love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins [forgives and disregards the offenses of others].” The only way to suffer wrong and continue to show love requires a developed agape love that has decided that if God maketh the sun to rise on the wicked, and rain to fall on the unjust (Matthew 5:45), then because of my love for Him I will be obedient and love even those who offend me just as He showed me love while I was yet a sinner. Sincere love is not based on condition. Sincere means to be honest and unaffected in any way; it is based on what is truly and deeply felt. A sincere love for others begins with a deep-felt love for God and the desire to please Him. And when you love and desire to please God, the royal law of loving thy neighbor as thy self (Matthew 22:39) can and will only be fulfilled after you have learned to reciprocate God’s love in every area of your life. When your love is not sincere, conditions have to be favorable for you to benefit before love is actually shown. Love is not something that can be faked. First Corinthians 13 give us an example of how love always displays itself. This chapter gives us an in-depth description of what love does. It is love that is patient, is kind, bears all things, believes in the best of every person, endures all things and never fails. This is a love that is sincere and fulfills the will of God for the life of a Christian. We are ambassadors for Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20) and our display of this sincere love is what will draw others to Him. Jesus told us that the love we show one to another will identify us to the world as His disciples (John 13:35) which operate in a sincere love that does not seek its’ own, but is concerned for the well-being of his neighbor. First Peter 1:22 gives us another example of how our love is to be towards others; it says “seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned (sincere) love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.”  This word “fervently” means that a sincere love is to love with “intent.” It is to be with full attention or effort concentrated or focused on one thing, which is to first love God with all our being, and then our neighbor as our self.

First Timothy 1:5 Amplified say “whereas the object and purpose of our instruction and charge is love, which springs from a pure heart and a good (clear) conscience and sincere (unfeigned) faith”, we are to “not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity).” (See 1 John3:18 Amplified) When we have cultivated this love in our heart and it has matured to a sincere love then we can love in the same capacity, and be as effective as Jesus was in His show of love.