1 TIMOTHY 4:12 AMP
Let no one look down on [you because of] your youth, but be an example and set a pattern for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in [moral] purity.
One of the themes we find in the New Testament is love, Jesus summed up the 10 commandments in one statement when He said;
Mark 12:30-31 (AMP)
30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul (life), and with all your mind (thought, understanding), and with all your strength.’ 31 This is the second: ‘You shall [unselfishly] [a]love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Many would say that they love God but when you look at how they treat people who are made in the image of God then you wonder which god it is they profess to love.
Paul tells Timothy the young pastor to be an example in love, not just love for God but also love for the people. Jesus tells us in John 13:35 that people will know that we are His disciples if we have love for one another. The very nature of the God we worship is Love, He is love and love is Him.
The world has its own definition of Love which many have adopted to but 1 Corinthians breaks it down for us to understand what love is and I love going there every now and then to remind myself how love looks like.
To love is to be patient with others, when you love you demonstrate kindness. It means you are never jealous and neither are you proud or boastful simply because you and an example in love. When you love you are neither quick tempered or selfish, in fact if you truly love, you never keep a record of wrongs that others do. When you demonstrate love you always rejoice when there is truth and you shun evil. Love is supportive loyal hopeful and trusting and as the bible says, love never fails.
Someone who is an example in these attributes will be seen from a mile away because love is attractive. This should be our nature; this should be how we interact with one another and not just to those who come to our little church around the corner.
More than 10 times we are commanded in the New Testament to love one another may you and I take on the nature of Christ and be an example in love.
John 13:34-35 (AMP)
34 I am giving you a new commandment, that you [a]love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.”
