Christ’s love

By Elizabeth Prata

The following is a quote from Georg Steinberger, found in Chapel Library’s quarterly magazine, Free Grace Broadcaster #159, “Love”.

THE LAMB TEACHES YOU TO LOVE

“Having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end” (John 13:1). How did He love? He loved His own more than Himself, and this is really the “love of Christ.” Natural love loves according to its own inclination; the love which the Law commands loves because God wills it. It loves from duty and loves its neighbor as itself (Luke 10:27). But the love of Christ loves others more than itself. How far we still come short of that! So many times we have begun to love, but have soon grown weary and proved unfaithful to the sacred task.

Only in the school of Christ do we learn the true meaning of love. There we learn to love in God’s way, to love with that love which is in God’s own heart. There is no place where sin creeps in more frequently than in the realm of affection. One does less harm by hatred than by false love. Often our enemies have not hurt us so much as our “good friends.” If we desire that our inward man shall grow and prosper, then let us undertake a thoroughgoing investigation of ourselves and allow our hearts to be cleansed of all impurity. In the great chapter on love we are told that “love rejoices in the truth.”