How to Walk in Love - Part 1

"Therefore, be imitators of God, as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fiiting for saints" (Ephesians 5:1-3).

When we speak of "love" here, we mean the kind of love that God has for us. Its a self-sacrificing love that endures personal pain and seeks the benefit of the other person. It has got nothing to do with a "love life" of a sexual nature, nor are we really talking about the kind of love friends have between them, which is based on a common interest or some kind of desirability in the other person. There is a special word for the God-kind of love - "agape". Its a word picked by the New Testament writers to distinguish the love of God from other loves, even parental love or affection.

Jesus said that the whole law of God hangs on the commandments to love God with everything you've got, and to love your neighbour as you love yourself. (see Matthew 22:37-40). Paul pointed out that all the commandments are summed up in the saying, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." (Romans 13:9)

This means that understanding how to love as God wants us to is really important.

It is so important that Paul basically says in 1 Corinthians 13, that even if you move in all the spiritual gifts, including gifts of revelation and power, but don't have love - God's kind of love, you are nothing.

This kind of Love is not an option. A life which manifests NO love for others is a life where the seed of God is not germinating. The basic motivations of such a person are all wrong. A person whose principle motivations are to make a name for themselves, to feed their pride, to satisfy their fleshly longings, or their desire for more stuff is a person who is living according to the flesh. Such a person, whether they claim to be a "born again Christian" or not, is on the path that leads to destruction (Romans 8:5,6). "Those who live like this shall not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:21). "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15,16).

Its one thing to know that God demands the fruit of love from us - but how do you do it?

I know for many years my life was totally devoid of the love of God, even though I was brought up with the Bible in a good Christian home. I didn't have the love of God in my heart - therefore I could not give it out or walk in it. Even after encountering the reality of God it was a slow process to learn to walk in the love of God, and I am still learning.

The first step to walking in the love of God, is to be born again and receive a new nature from God, which is able to love. That step is vital. If you are not born again, you can be born again simply by calling upon the name of Jesus, asking Him to save you and make you a new person, trusting in His sacrifice of Himself for you, and his resurrection, and giving your life to Him.

Once born again, we still need a lot of change before we are really walking in love. The programming of our brain does not cause us to react in love. Rather, until our minds and hearts and renewed, we may act with the same kind of irritability, selfishness, pride, anger, envy and faithlessness in certain situations which "press our buttons". There is an ongoing process of sanctification which we must embrace if we are going to walk in love, as God requires us to. Although our spirits are made new when we are born again, our minds are not - they need to be renewed also, by an application of the Word of God to our lives.

Receiving God's Love

"We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

Unless you experience the love of God for yourself you cannot love God or others with this kind of love. We are not originators of this God-kind of love. We have to receive it first. We must know it experientially, then we can give it out.

We find healing from God as we realise that in Christ, God truly accepts us. He doesn't love us stoicly - sort of grinning and bearing us only - he actually likes us. And with our sins taken away through the atonement of Christ, God actually has a real pleasure in us. He loves us. He wants us to respond to His love.

Its a work of the Holy Spirit to come to know this love. "The love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5). We cannot achieve this knowledge of God by striving, by trying to, or anything like that. We have to be willing at some point just to "open our hearts" and receive it. What can make this hard for us is when our hearts are hardened and crusted over by layers of pride, cynicism, anger, selfishness and unbelief. This can be happening even when we are not conscious of it. I know from my own experience. It can take a work of God to soften a hard heart. It takes a work of God to heal a heart that has been hurt by rejection over the years. But God can do it, and does do it.

If you want to know God's love for you, don't try too hard. Instead, just talk honestly with God. And talk out loud. This helps a lot. Tell Him how you feel. Invite Him to work in your life. Then wait. It may not happen immediately. He may be talking to you about forgiving others first. Respond to what he shows you, and in time, He will reveal His love to you personally.

Our Needs are Met in God

In order to begin walking in love, we need to believe that "my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). Even though this verse has a definite financial application, I believe it applies also to all our emotional needs as well.

We need to trust that God will give us what we need in terms of companionship and love. Even if there is no human being who gives us this, God

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