Love – Part 2
Ephesians 4:1-3 “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”
A definition of love that we can adopt is: Unselfish concern that freely accepts another and seeks his/her good. The quality of love being expressed in interpersonal relationships is what impresses people. In the next few chapters we want to look at this quality and see what it is and what it means.
The first thing that comes out in Ephesians 4 is the word “humble.” What does it mean to be humble? They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Perhaps the best illustration of all of this is Christ Himself who lived out humility as described in Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” The idea is lowliness of mind in the sense that we consider others better than ourselves.
We read in Matthew 11:28-29 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” In this passage of Scripture we see a rest that comes when we initially come to Christ, a rest from sin and guilt. We all have experienced this rest. However, it seems that there is another rest that comes, and inner rest, when we take His yoke and learn from Him.
When we apply and exercise this quality of lowliness to personal relationships we immediately eliminate competition and tension. We don’t have the stress of comparison or of demanding our rights. By putting other people’s interests before ours we find a quietness that comes into our soul.
I have found that sometimes men are threatened by their wives because of some qualities that the wife has that the man doesn’t. Rather than accepting what the Lord has given us we find a restlessness coming in that in turn breaks down communication and relationships. Of course this is true not just in a husband and wife relationship, but it can happen in all our relationships as well.
I should say that the exercise of this quality not only gives rest to our souls, but I also believe it gives health to our bodies. How many of our physical ailments can be attributed to the upset of broken relationships? According to some doctors, quite a few. Like Jay Adams said, “In looking out for the sad and bad we need to be aware of the mad.”
Let us take His yoke upon us and learn from Him. This again takes us back to the example of Philippians 2:5-8; for our Lord chose to humble Himself before people. This is the way we need to be.