Christian Love

Christian Love
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 
Love never fails....
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”  
                                                                                                   1 Corinthians 13:4-8a,13
 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 
Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  
This is the first and greatest commandment.  
And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  
All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” 
                                                                     Matthew 22:37-40
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  
But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  
that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  
If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  
Matthew 5:43-46
Dietrich Bonhoeffer a German Theologian wrote,
“Christian love draws no distinction between one enemy and another, except that the more bitter our enemy's hatred, the greater his need of love. Be his enemy political or religious, he has nothing to expect from a follower of Jesus but unqualified love. In such love there is not inner discord between the private person and official capacity. In both we are disciples of Christ, or we are not Christians at all.” 
                                      Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship
Many in the west don’t know who Dietrich Bonhoeffer was today. But he practised his beliefs.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer was born in Germany 4th  February 1906
He was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, anti-Nazi dissident. A key founding member of the Confessing Church.
Bonhoeffer’s writings on Christianity's role in the secular world have become widely influential, his book The Cost of Discipleship became a modern classic.
Bonhoeffer was condemned to death 8 April 1945 by an SS judge in what amounted to a mockery of a trial.
He was executed April 9th 1945 two weeks before the camp was liberated by the Americans and just weeks before Adolf Hitler committed suicide.
Bonhoeffer stood up publicly to what was one of the most repressive dictatorships in history. He spoke out against the persecution of the Jews and Hitler the man that eventually had him murdered.
Bonhoeffer did however what he felt Christians should do. He stood up for the oppressed and showed love for those around him.
Tony Campolo the American evangelist wrote,
“These issues are biblical issues: to care for the sick, to feed the hungry, to stand up for the oppressed. I contend that if the evangelical community became more biblical, everything would change.”
Tony Campolo 
As Christians we are called to show love to all people all the time.
I don’t think many Christians who read the Bible realize that when the apostle Paul wrote the book of Corinthians, when he wrote his passage on love he was living under the reign of the Emperor Nero who would eventually order him killed.
The key to being a Christian is to love, God, our neighbour, our enemy. God set the example.
Jesus saying,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
   John 3:16,17
The principle reason for Jesus coming to this earth is to save the world. Jesus came into the world so that every individual might find their way to heaven. As C. S. Lewis put it,
“He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.” 
                              C.S. Lewis  
As Christian in the twenty-first century we need to look at ourselves. Look at our actions and motives. We need to be turning to the scriptures and studying them. We need to go back to our roots.
Jesus said,
“Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” 
                                                                       Matthew 28:18-20.
We can only do this effectively if we are showing love to the world.
Please think about it.