"The Only Thing that Counts" - The Bible's Mandate of Love, and why it Matters

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value.  The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love (Galatians 5:6).”

In a way, love is the “work” of our faith, which James talks about when he tells us, “You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only (James 2:24).” James was talking about giving a homeless man food and shelter instead of walking by and saying, “May you stay warm and well-fed.” It’s showing tangible love to the lowly instead of reserving it only for those close to us. Love and mercy are discussed numerous times in the Gospels and Epistles, as Jesus calls the act of loving God and loving our neighbor the greatest commandment. Two forms of love!

It’s not either faith or love – both faith and love are inextricably joined in our sanctification and ultimate salvation. But anything good we do comes from God, so if we feel like we don't have either of these, we can ask for them: “For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened (Matthew 7:8).”

People are only truly attracted to the faith through seeing God's love in us, or as Jesus put it: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35).”

In John 15:3, Jesus says the disciples were already “made clean by my Word,” meaning that because they believed in what He said, their faith had made them clean. Now that they had been given faith, Jesus explained what's next:

Jesus tells us that in order to remain in Him, we must follow His commands:
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:9-10)

Jesus describes Himself as the vine in which we all must remain:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Jesus also tells us to bear fruit or be cut off at the harvest time (when we pass into the next world):
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2)

Jesus begs us to remain in Him:
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15:3-4)

Jesus makes clear what will happen if we forego the grace of Jesus's love and do not remain in Him (remember, we can always ask for the grace of God's love, and He gives it freely in bountiful abundance):
“If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” (John 15:6)

Jesus tells us what to do in order to remain in Him:
“If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.” (John 15:10)

There’s a lot of commands to keep. How can we do this? Jesus tells us the simple answer:
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” (John 15:12)

That’s a lot easier. Jesus repeats himself, just in case there was any doubt:
“This is my command: Love each other.” (John 15:17)

And that's how we remain in Him to start bearing fruit: loving one another. It sounds easy in concept, but it is much harder in practice. Jesus tells us that we can't do any good thing apart from Him, and we can always ask for God's power in our lives to change our behavior and help us to become more loving, faithful, humble, etc. I do this all the time, and we're not perfect, but we pray to God to help us improve. This of course assumes that we believe in and love God. All the disciples already knew and loved Jesus Christ, so Jesus doesn’t state love for God explicitly in this section of John, but He states this in Matthew 22 to those who do not know Jesus as Lord:
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ (Matthew 22:37-38)

He even says that the whole purpose of the law and the prophets was to tell us to love God, and love our neighbors (Matthew 22:40: “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”)

Jesus also says that this commandment will be in effect until heaven and earth pass away (i.e., forever):
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:17-18)

Paul himself confirms this when he states in Romans: Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)

Our question should be: “OK, so how do we love all people? How do we love people we don’t like? How do we love those who don’t like us? Do we really have to?”:
“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you…”(Jesus, in Matthew 5:44)

Jesus clearly states that His command to love includes our enemies. This is impossible with humans, but anything is possible with God. We can always ask God for help in loving those who hate us, or turning our own hate into love:
“For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:8).”

If we ask for the grace to forgive and love our enemies, God will give it to us. He will turn our hearts from stone to flesh. He did it with me, and does it with other brothers and sisters. And He still does it every time I ask.

God has so much love for us. The psalmist says, “My cup runneth over,” meaning God personally pours him wine to overflowing at the table He has made for the psalmist while his enemies look on, wondering how this is possible. God’s love for us bursts forth from our hearts when we ask Him to come to us, or to increase His love in us so we may increase the love in others' lives through His perfect gift. My cup runneth over. God is truly bountiful in His love and mercy for us, and we are to be that way for each other. For he who judges will be judged, he who condemns or stones the adultress is condemned, but…he who forgives, will be forgiven. He who shows mercy, mercy will be shown to him. He who loves, God loves him even more. And those of us who don't love our enemies, all we must do is simply pray to God, asking Him to come into our lives for the first time or for the 500th time and enable our cup to overflow with love so that we can pour it out to others, as God intends. Only through God is this possible…not by my own power, or that of another person.