Loving Others - Pastor Tim
Loving Other
Pastor Tim Spirk
At the heart of the Christian life is one unmistakable reality: love. Not as an idea, a feeling, or a virtue we try to muster on our own, but as the very evidence of God’s presence living within us. Heaven fills the earth when the love of God is expressed through His people.
Jesus makes it clear in John 15 that the same love the Father poured into Him is now given to us. When we receive Christ, He makes His home in us, and that indwelling presence enables us to love the way He loves. The love revealed at the cross, where Jesus laid down His life, is the same love He now desires to communicate through us to others. This is not optional Christianity. Love is the essence of the Christian life.
Scripture reminds us that loving God is inseparable from loving people. First John 4 tells us plainly that loving those we can see is the practical proof that we truly love the God we cannot see. Love is not theoretical. It is lived, demonstrated, and embodied in everyday relationships.
Paul expands this picture in 1 Corinthians 13, describing love not only as God’s nature but also as His expectation for how we live with one another. This love, agape, is the highest form of love. It is divine, self-giving, and not dependent on how others respond. It gives anyway. It stays. It keeps showing up.
Love is patient. It restrains anger and chooses long-suffering. Like a candle with a long wick, it waits for people to grow, listen, and change rather than demanding instant results.
Love is kind. It is willing to help and adapt to the needs of others instead of insisting they adapt to us. Kindness serves. It bends. It meets people where they are.
Love is not jealous, boastful, or proud. It is not consumed with its own agenda or obsessed with self-promotion. Love doesn’t inflate itself or demand recognition. Instead, it lifts others up and finds joy in their growth and success.
Love is not rude or demanding. It does not push, force, or manipulate to get its own way. It is thoughtful, considerate, and respectful, even when things don’t go as planned.
Love is not irritable and keeps no record of wrongs. It does not provoke others or hold grudges. Forgiveness becomes a way of life because love refuses to keep score. God Himself does not deal with us according to our sins, and His love empowers us to do the same for others.
Love does not rejoice in injustice but rejoices when truth wins. It does not celebrate someone else’s failure, even when they may deserve it. Love celebrates truth, growth, restoration, and victory in others.
Love never gives up. It protects like a roof over a house, covering people rather than exposing their weaknesses. Love believes the best, remains hopeful, and endures even under heavy pressure. It stays planted, refusing to walk away when things get hard.
And finally, Scripture declares this powerful truth: love never fails. It never stops working. It never loses its place. It can always be depended on.
Romans 5:5 reminds us that this kind of love is not produced by effort alone. “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” God’s love has been dispersed in abundance within us, empowering us to live lives where heaven truly fills the earth.
When we love this way, we become living evidence of God’s Kingdom among us.
