Focus: Uprightness Of Love

Text: S. of Sol.1:4

"The UPRIGHT love thee."

The most fortunate thing that can happen to you is to be loved by the upright. The reason being that false love is rampant. Some people's claim to love can be very suspicious because fake love abounds in our world. We often find it difficult to distinguish between true and false loves. The truth is that love is not what is false but the lover. A lover who is not upright cannot truly love. A lot of people have trust issues when it comes to opening their arms to embrace love.

Selfish people would love selfishly. Impure people would be unable to deliver pure love. Imperfect people cannot love perfectly. In the hands of the imperfect, perfect love becomes imperfect. Only the upright can practice authentic love. The love of a wrong person cannot be right. Loving makes us right and being right makes us love rightly. We learn from the Scripture that Amaziah "DID that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but NOT with a perfect heart" (2Chron.25:2). Imagine an imperfect heart trying to do the right thing! Going by this Scripture we can see that there is nothing wrong in loving, but there is everything wrong in loving wrongly. 

Loving goes wrong when the wrong people attempt to love. The truth is that every man is wrong at heart, and that affects the quality of love we give or exude.

Paul says that "the love of money is the root of all evil…" (1Tim.6:10). Those who love money think they can buy love with money or gifts. Money-lovers love things and use people. For them, everything has a price tag, including human beings. In their thinking, everyone and everything is for grabs once there is money. Money is of highest value to them. Nothing and no one measures up to the value of the money in their possession. Paul says that in the last days "men shall be lovers of their own selves" (2Tim.3:2). In verse 4 of the same Scripture, Paul tells us that men will be "lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God." For these people, what is paramount in their lives is loving themselves and their pleasures - what they are and what they want. They count themselves first in everything and exalt their wants above the welfare or wellbeing of those they claim to love. They love others only for themselves, not as themselves, nor for the good of the ones they claim to love. A lover of things will eventually turn out to be a user of people. 

Misplaced love is another form of idolatry, and I think it was St. Augustine who stressed that point. John writes, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1Jh.2:15). Paul says of Demas, "For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world" (2Tim.4:10). World-lovers become people-forsakers. Paul also talked about those "whose end is destruction, WHOSE GOD IS THEIR BELLY, and whose glory is in their shame, WHO MIND EARTHLY THINGS.)" (Phil.3:19). 

What kind of love would a man whose god is his stomach give you? His stomach dictates his expressions and actions. His greed and appetite control his love.

Twice John tells us that "God is love" (1Jh.4:8,16). That tells us that love's center is God. No love is real and healthy that does not originate from or centered on God. God is the source of true love. For the believer in Christ, Paul says that "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us" (Rom.5:5). No man can love rightly until he has been made right by God and his heart saturated with God's love by the agency of the Holy Spirit.

The upright loves uprightly. I pray that those who love you are people whose hearts are upright. People who are upright are kind, loving, forgiving, understanding, and sincere. They are not sinless, but they are true lovers. I pray that you are the upright lover! Let this Scripture grip your heart that says, "Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee" (S. of Sol.1:3). You are Christ's virgin, and I pray that you find virgins who love you. Love begets love; true love begets true love. Yes, the upright love thee!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter