The Write Place

“Love is something sterner and more splendid than mere kindness. “

C. S. Lewis The Problem of Pain (1940)

God’s word must be our standard for all things, and this tells us the love pushed by our culture is no love at all. The culture we live in preaches love does not challenge, has no boundaries, and simply provides the happiness of our every whim. Love, however, frees by binding us, even denying many momentary pleasures, challenging us, and in so doing freeing us.

English is a funny language, having one term for love. You love your mother, and you love a bacon cheeseburger, but Greek has several. Filia (φιλία) is a friendly affection. Storge (στοργή) is the affection of a parent to child. Philautia (φιλαυτία, philautía) means, regard for one’s own happiness. Xenia (ξενία) is the word for hospitality. The term for love that Jesus uses here though is a deep, abiding love (ἀγαπήσεις , a form of αγαπή). We will be talking about this love in particular.

Rather sadly we live in a culture that tells us love is the highest good but can’t really tell you what love is. Fortunately, we have Christ is the perfect example of love, and he gives this command to his people.

Mark 12:28-34
“²⁸ And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³² And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. ³³ And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴ And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.”


The second commandment Jesus gives flows from the first, those who love God with this deep abiding love, will love their neighbor with that abiding love. This is also the two tables of the ten commandments, so it is not a new command, but really a renewed command that restates the old. The two commands are so linked, they are in essence one.

Jesus also commands his disciples to love one another uniquely and beautifully.

John 13:34-35
““A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

How did Christ love his disciples? He died for them, and for us, which he foreshadows here.

John 15:13 ESV
“¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”

He laid does his life out of love (ἀγάπην, again from αγαπή), hardly a pleasurable experience that made no demand on him). In so doing he conquered sin and death, bearing our sins on himself. He also in his earthly ministry confronted his people, after they were fearful of the storm Jesus stopped (Mt 8:23-27), when Jesus walked on the water (Mt 14:22-33), Peter confesses Christ then rebukes him (Mt 16:13-23), the couple on the road to Emmaus (Luke:24:25-27). Love confronts, challenges, in so doing it sanctifies and grows us. It has boundaries, makes demands, and changes us.

Take, for example how this command is given to us later.

Galatians 6:1-2
“Brothers,^[a] if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. ² Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.“

Verses 1 and 2 are not separated from each other but are together part of God’s law. Loving your neighbor will involve confrontation as much as it does the call to restoration. You know what a transgression is by God’s law, through it you know what needs confrontation, confronting rightly is a key part of love because it is loving you neighbor. Restoration cannot happen without confrontation first.

Do you think our culture wants this? Our culture hates confrontation, but it even hates the idea of restoration because it hates the idea of sin.

Restoration demands the idea of sin and a fall to begin with. The idea of sin and a fall means something was wrong, and our culture wants to call it’s desire’s good, whatever that may be. Which is why it always eats it’s own and has no grace for anybody.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.”

Invert this, and it sounds just like our culture, doesn’t it? Love does not envy, but our culture preaches envy of those it says are well off. Do not boast, but it preaches pride, and pride in sin at that. It preaches to be self-seeking, be your true you all else be damned. Keep record of wrongs, if you offend the wrong cause (the woke) you cannot be forgiven and there is no end to that shame since there is nobody to bear your “sin”. You can only be cowed into silence, and you are only accepted so long as you continue in the law of, I’m okay you’re okay. Rejoice with the truth? Our culture shrieks and cries, trying to silence it instead.

Our culture does not love you. It does not even love itself, or those it has trapped in itself. It hates you, it hates it’s own, because it hates God, and all he has made. Since it hates God, it actually hates love too. So, it pretends love is hate, and hate is love.

Our culture is making all love the same. You are seeing the implication of this as the romantic love, social love, warm feeling, sexual passion are all being made the same and are demanded their active expression as one thing. All “love is love” and so all things are permissible, so the argument is being made more and more. |


If you study those at the top (Alfred Kinsey, Willhelm Reich, John Money) even a little, you will see this was their long goal, most of your friends and family who believe in it have just been useful along the way.

We have been stuck on love as warm feelings of intimacy. Love has been reduced to feelings of affirmation and acceptance without any challenge or call to growth. This is the furthest thing from love, in fact it can even be called closer to apathy because it doesn’t care where you are, and it doesn’t care about your good. It just leaves you in whatever place you are in. We are not called to that; we are called to seek the good of one another, and that is a challenging thing that will change both of you. Love spurs you on to growth, it accepts you, but it never leaves you as you were.

CS Lewis is very right in saying love is something sterner and more splendid than mere kindness, it is also something more so than mere approval or acceptance without challenge or limit.

I can’t think of a better way to end, than to let God’s word speak of the for itself. See the love with which he loved us, before the world had even began, knowing what sin you would commit, without you earning it. See how that compares to the “love the world” offers you and let the truth of God’s word and Love for you rest in you.

Ephesians 1:3-10
“³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us^[b] for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known^[c] to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”