Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:21, NIV)
In society today, it seems like the sentence “I love you” is used rather flippantly and loosely. One uses it as a form of goodbye on the phone with a friend, or when one is leaving home, and so on.
What does it mean to love?
According to this teaching of Jesus, loving is not merely a nice indescribably feeling. Loving has strong ethical dimensions to it. When God gave the Ten Commandments, “loving” is intrinsically linked to the “ethical keeping” of the commandments (Exodus 20:6; Deuteronomy 5:10). It is up front and central. Throughout the Bible, it seems clear that possessing the Torah-the teachings of the LORD, and then effecting ethical behavior, accordingly, are inherently linked together. This is how love is expressed.
In response, God “keeps” his “Covenant Love-” (Hebrew, Chesed), towards human beings. It is a different Hebrew word, and an exponentially strong form of love. It is as if God is saying, if you reach out to me with the extent of love, according to your ability, I will respond with a love which is beyond your wildest imagination.
The Bible opens up this mutuality of love to all human beings, not just the Jewish people (e.g. Isaiah 56:6).
It seems clear to me that this mutuality is true of any relationship between two beings- between two human beings, and between human beings and God. One must always ask the question, what is dear to the other? Usually, what is dear to the other is found in the ethical statements of the other. In the case of God, these are found in the Torah of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. In the case of relationships between human beings, it is found in the verbal and non-verbal statements of the other.
How do I express my love the other?
It is by holding dearly and practicing my ethical life in accordance to what is dear to the other person, whether this be God, or my neighbor.
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