WHAT GODLY LOVE IS AND DOES

• Religious people wrongly interpret this verse to mean material possessions. That interpretation elevates material possessions above love experienced in the heart.
• The story of the rich young ruler explains the meaning of this command.
• When we understand that love in our heart is our most important possession, we can interpret this verse in the context of loving our neighbor as ourselves. We share all that we receive so that our neighbors can also experience God’s love in their hearts and live freely and abundantly in a world without hate and oppression. We hold back none of God’s love for ourselves.

• Religious people wrongly interpret this verse to mean that love requires suffering a measure of physical hardship. This interpretation ignores the principle of Sacrificial Love which is the perfect expression of loving your neighbor as yourself. Efforts to love your neighbor without sacrifice will not yield good results.

• Patience is part of God’s character. 
• People who extend unconditional patience to their neighbors –including enemies — in all circumstances without expectation for receiving patience from anyone in return love their neighbors with Godly love.

• Kindness is part of God’s character.
• People who extend unconditional kindness and generosity to your neighbors – even to their enemies – in all circumstances without expectation for receiving kindness from anyone in return love their neighbor with Godly love.

• God protects his people with his love.
• We protect our neighbors when we extend unconditional Godly love to them.
• We protect our neighbors when we protect their rights, privileges and property.
• We protect our neighbors when we preserve their rights to vote.
• We protect our neighbors when we share material wealth with them and pay taxes to support their material needs.
• We protect our neighbors when we expose conspiracies designed  to deprive them of their rights, privileges and property.
• We protect our neighbors when we support and vote for political leaders who promote policies designed to nurture all our neighbors’ needs.
• We protect our neighbors when we share knowledge of what love is, and is not, with them.
• We protect our neighbors when we share knowledge of what love is, and is not, with politicians and religious leaders.

• Trust in this verse has a unique meaning that applies only to trusting God to work in the hearts of people. It does not mean that we should always trust others to do the things they promise to do. Therefore, this verse does not apply to everyday situations where humans have a choice to trust someone or not. Common sense and reason should be applied in those situations. It would be wrong to trust God for things that humans control.
• This verse only applies to matters of the heart in which God commands that we should trust no man because man does not have the power to change human hearts like God does. In that regard, God can always be trusted because he is always faithful.
• We show that we trust that God will work in the hearts of our neighbors when we sacrificially love our neighbors.

• Hope is always associated with God’s spoken word. All of God’s words represent his love.
• What we hope for is that we and our neighbors will experience the power of God’s spoken words (i.e. Faith, Grace, Mercy, Peace, Love, Heart, Glory, Blessing, Hope, Joy, Truth) in their hearts.
• We hope that recipients of Godly love will recognize that it came from God, give him credit for it  and be grateful for it.

• Human love thrives when it is gratefully received and returned but will grow cold when not returned.
• God’s love endures forever without interruption.
• People who love God always persevere in loving their neighbors – even when it is rejected – because they never stop trusting and hoping that God will someday work a miracle in the hearts of men.

WHAT GODLY LOVE DOES NOT DO

Envy (5355) (phthonos) describes pain felt and malignity conceived at the sight of excellence or happiness. It means not just wanting what another person has, but also resenting that person for having it. It is an attitude of ill-will that leads to division and strife and even murder. When we envy, we cannot bear to see the prosperity of others, because we ourselves feel continually wretched.

The English word envy is interesting as it is derived from the Latin in = against and video = to look, “to look with ill-will,” etc., toward another, and obviously is an evil strongly condemned in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.

To envy is to feel a grudging discontent aroused by the possessions, achievements, or qualities of another along with the desire to have for oneself something possessed by another. To envy another is to show spiteful malice and resentment over another’s advantage. To envy is to possess a discontented feeling that arises in one’s selfish heart in view of the superiority of another, and being nearly tantamount to the expression of jealousy. The one who envies possesses a malignant passion that sees in another qualities that it covets, and can even degenerate into hatred for their possessor. When we feel envy towards others our basic desire is to degrade them, not so much because we aspires after elevation as because we delight in obscuring those who are more deserving. It follows that envying while seemingly just an “innocent” sin is in fact one of the most odious and detestable of all vices.

• It is not in God’s nature to envy because he is totally self-sufficient.
• Humans envy material things, social status, relationships and political power.
• It is not in the nature of people who love their neighbor to envy or covet because they are content in all things and are never anxious.
• People who love their neighbor as themselves rejoice with their neighbors for the things they possess and never want those things for themselves.
• People who love their neighbor and themselves do not envy their neighbor’s possessions because their hearts are already rich with Faith, Grace, Mercy, Peace, Love, Heart, Glory, Blessing, Hope, Joy, and Truth.
• Absence of envy is critical to loving your neighbor. It is impossible to devote yourself to loving your neighbors and be attentive to their needs if you envy or covet those things for yourself. Moreover, when you envy or covet your neighbors’ possessions, you are in competition with your neighbor. Unity exists in a collaborative, self-sacrificial environment  – not in a win/lose competition.

• It is not in God’s nature to boast.
• It is not in the nature of people who are created in God’s image to boast. They have nothing to boast about because the valuable things they possess in their hearts (i.e. Faith, Grace, Mercy, Peace, Love, Heart, Glory, Blessing, Hope, Joy, and Truth) are all gifts from God – not products of their labor.
• People boast about their material wealth, social status, relationships and political/religious power. They rightly believe that they have a right to boast about these things because they worked hard to attain them. Their real motive in boasting is to elevate themselves in the sight of others. This boasting is not an act of love because it creates division based on the things people possess. The goal of love is to create unity – not division.
• Absence of boasting is critical to loving your neighbor. People who boast are not attractive or trustworthy in the eyes of most people because, in effect, boasters say that they are better than others because they have certain possessions and/or have done certain things that have high social/moral/religious/political value. The boaster’s identity focuses on intellect, physical strength, physical beauty and labor they possess and use to acquire personal, material wealth, social status, relationships and political/religious power. 
• Boastful people often offset their efforts to advance their personal interests with works of charity or public service. These efforts are seen as humble acts of good will toward others but are really self-serving. These efforts are praised by other boastful people but are despised by those who see through the hypocrisy.
• People who love their neighbor with Godly love will not do the following:
• Boast in their hearts or publicly about all the good things they have done in religion, politics, community and business.
• Boast in their hearts or publicly about their material wealth and social standing.
• Publicly represent themselves as being better than, or more important than others.

• It is not in God’s nature to be proud.
• It is not in the nature of people who love their neighbor  to be proud because they know that they are created in God’s image by God.
• It is in the nature of people who are created in God’s image to be publicly and privately humble – even if they worked hard to acquire material wealth, social status,   relationships and political/religious power.  
• Humble people use their wealth, social status, relationships  and political  power quietly and anonymously to benefit their neighbors – not themselves. They never boast about the things they have accomplished.
• God resists proud people and exalts humble people.
• People who do not love their neighbors are publicly and privately proud of their material wealth, social status, relationships and political/religious power. Pride is the reward for their hard work to attain and maintain these things for their personal benefit.

• People who demonstrate Godly love are never rude to others. They  always give honor and respect to all their neighbors – not just people who are like them.
• People who demonstrate Godly love do not condemn or speak ill of their neighbors in their hearts or publicly. 
• People who demonstrate Godly love honor all their neighbors with the same honor they hope to receive themselves.

• People who demonstrate Godly love have no need or desire to use their physical, financial, religious, political and social resources to advance or protect their  personal rights, privileges and wealth because they are not proud and have no need to boast. 
• People who demonstrate Godly love have no need or desire to use their physical, financial, religious, political and social resources to advance or protect their  personal rights, privileges and wealth because they are fully content with what they have.
• People who demonstrate Godly love do not seek to earn praise from others through their involvement in religion, politics, business or social activism.
• People who demonstrate Godly love do not seek to earn favor from others by publicly praising them for the material things they possess or the good things they have done.

• God is not easily angered but he does get angry when people sin (i.e. when they do not love their neighbor as themselves.) 
• People who demonstrate Godly love get angry at sin but they never cross the line of murdering sinners by calling them disparaging names, dishonoring them, or provoking them to respond with anger and violence..
• People who demonstrate Godly love do not judge others as unredeemable because they always hope that God will change their hearts.

• God keeps no record of wrongs. Therefore, people who demonstrate Godly love forgive others unconditionally for their offenses to them and their neighbors.
• People who demonstrate Godly love do not gloat when someone is held accountable for wrongs done to themselves or their neighbors. 
• People who demonstrate Godly love do not seek revenge for wrongs done to themselves or their neighbors.

• People who demonstrate Godly love do not conspire with individuals or groups to deprive neighbors of their constitutional rights and privileges.
• People who demonstrate Godly love do not conspire with individuals or groups to deprive neighbors of their material wealth, or access to material wealth and  life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 
• People who demonstrate Godly love do not repeat lies and deceptive conspiracies as though they were true.
• People who demonstrate Godly love do not associate  with individuals or groups that start or spread deceptive conspiracies.
• People who demonstrate Godly love never hope that their neighbors will fail in any way.
• People who demonstrate Godly love will publicly expose lies, deceptions and conspiracies designed to create injustice for their neighbors. 
• People who demonstrate Godly love will publicly expose political and religious leaders who spread lies, deceptions and conspiracies of all kinds.
• People who demonstrate Godly love will privately speak words of Godly love to anyone who spreads lies, deceptions and conspiracies.
• People who demonstrate Godly love will publicly share truths that correct  lies, deceptions and conspiracies.

• Human love tends to deteriorate and will eventually fail when it is not rewarded with human love.
• Godly love never fails in the hearts of people who are created in his image.