What is Love?

Love is not words, nor is it acts of kindness. Does this shock you to hear this?

Love is a mentality of deep concern about another human being.

People can do acts of kindness to elevate themselves, this is not love, although kindness can come from a heart of love.

People can say kind things, this too is not love, however saying kind things can come out of a heart of love.

When we love someone we care what happens to them, whether or not their life aligns with the principles of Christ. When our lives align with the principles of Christ that is where there is the greatest blessing.

When we love someone we are more interested in their inner heart than their outward expression. When the inner heart aligns with the outward expressions there is where we find genuine Christ-like love.

Many ungodly people do acts of kindness because it makes them feel good, without much if any concern about the person for whom they do the deeds. These people need to have others observe the good deeds to gain their favor or accolades.

Matthew 6:1-2 "1“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.…"

The truly loving kind person never tells others about their good deeds. They are satisfied that the person receiving their gift of care is blessed. No blessing has to come back to the giver who has the love of God residing in them.

When Christ died on the cross for the sins of others, He had no blessing to Himself, it was completely sacrificial. He had nothing to gain by the terrible monstrous torture He went through on the cross, except that He loved those He died for, those who will trust in Him.

Truly godly kind loving people do their acts and have their attitudes because it is the mind of Christ from whom they operate.

When we are born again walking with Christ we do not have to work up kindness or love, it is a part of our very being, therefore it is not something we have to think about or try to be, it is as natural as breathing to us.

Those who walk in self-exaltation cannot possibly have the mind of Christ or the desire to be like Him. They are completely satisfied with themselves, they are their own god in their own mind.

The fruit of the Spirit is not good deeds, it is the very nature of God. It has become a sort of DNA to our soul.

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

When we fail and temporarily lean into our feelings through the desires of the flesh we are tormented with guilt that we have offended the Holy Spirit that lives in us. We cannot stand to continue with the wrong attitude or action. Those who love the Lord and live by the Holy Spirit hate sin as much as Christ in them does. This is why born-again believers are so sensitive to any thought that they may have hurt someone.

1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.…"

These are some clues whether or not someone claiming to be a Christian has been changed into a new creation by Christ. When we are changed we are no longer the person we used to be, loving the way unbelievers think, we now love the way Christ thinks.

Hallelujah!