The walk of love.
We are bound to love one another.
I. THIS WAS THE GREAT DUTY OF THE LAW. "All the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself' (Galatians 5:14). "The end of the commandment is love" (1 Timothy 1:5). All our duty to our neighbor is summed up in love. Love supplies the motive-power to all right relations with our fellow-men.
II. THIS WAS THE NEW COMMANDMENT OF CHRIST, "A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another" (John 13:34). The love thus newly enjoined has certain important characteristics.
1. It must be the love of deeds, not words. "Let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18).
2. It must be ardent. "Above all things have fervent charity among yourselves" (1 Peter 4:7, 1 Peter 4:8).
3. It must be self-sacrificing. "We ought also to lay down our lives for the brethren" (1 John 3:16).
4. It ought to be a love well guided and controlled. "This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all judgment" (Philippians 1:9).
5. It ought to be a constant love like that of Christ. "Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end" (John 13:1).
6. It ought to be a decisive test as to our condition in God's sight. "He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him" (1 John 2:10). "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren" (1 John 3:14).
7. It must be a love recommended by the highest examples. "God is love." "If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another." We are to "walk in love, as Christ also loved us." "Let the same mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).—T.C.