Ch 10 Love
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love”
We have come to the last principle of this verse and “it’s a doozie.” Love, the least manly word. Wrong. Love has been categorized as a feminine word. A sissy word. The culture says “If you show love and affection you’re not much of a man”. That is a lie straight from hell.
To love, to really love takes guts. It takes grit. It requires all the previous principles that have been mentioned in these verses and this book. Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians describes perfect love. The kind of love Peter is talking about. It explains how no matter what we do or say, if it is not done in love, it is pointless and worthless.
That means that even if you get all the previous principles mastered, without love they are meaningless. Read the chapter for yourself and see how love is manly.
Love is not always a soft and gushy feeling. Love is often tough. Loving someone after he has hurt you isn’t easy. Loving someone who is going through a difficult time in their life is rarely an exciting task. Love is an action. What guy doesn’t like action?
You were created to be loved and to love. We must receive the love of God in order to love others how they were designed to be loved. To receive God’s love, we must accept His Son, Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior of our lives.
Jesus willingly set aside His throne in Heaven, took on an earthly body to live a perfect, sinless life setting the example of love for us. He didn’t stop there, He was tortured and crucified for our sins, so that we would have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him.
Shortly before Jesus was crucified He told his disciples “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”
There you have it.
The manliest act you can muster is to love. Not the mushy gushy love. The lay-your-life down kind of love. The kind of love that takes action. The love that regards others as more important than itself. As a man you are called to love.
“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”