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It is love that defines true Christianity. So important is love in believers’ lives that even Jesus, during his earthly ministry before he was translated to heaven, took time to demonstrate Godly love and the practical side of religion.
Some of the components of love include praying for one another, caring for the sick, visiting prisoners in their places of incarceration, supporting the poor and the underprivileged.
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27).
In several verses of the New Testament, Jesus taught his followers the need for love and how this element of our faith brings about peace, joy and ultimately one’s ability to understand God, who according to scriptures is also described as love.
Some verses which talk about love include Matthew 5:44, 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 6:27; 32, John 15:9, John 13:34, Galatians 5:13 while verses such as Deuteronomy 6:5, Deuteronomy 5:10, Mark 12:30, John 14:23 and Romans 5:8 talk about the relationship between men and God being based on love.
Without love Christianity is meaningless because there would be no base upon which we could anchor our faith in God.
Love shows the way to knowing God and it capacitates mortal men to embrace and understand the love of God, which is revealed to humans in different but often mysterious ways.
In 1 John 4:16 the Bible teaches that God is love, and hence, for that reason any professed believer in Christ needs to love as God himself loved when he sent his son on earth to redeem sinners (John 3:16).
1 Corinthians 6:20 further stresses the idea of God as love by teaching how because of his love for the human race, God offered His son’s life to be a purchase price in order to buy sinners out of condemnation and death.
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20).
Love, therefore, can be understood as a measure of true Godliness, and by it humans have an improved understanding of the divine nature of God and his holiness.
Since God is love and love is an important pillar of the Christian faith, it therefore follows that any discourse on Christianity cannot be complete or be meaningful without highlighting the idea of God as love.
Similarly, anything that seeks to proclaim the gospel, such as songs, music or works of art can only successfully do so if they project God as love.
On this point, there are several paintings by fine artists around the world who have manipulated the language of colour and creativity to depict God as love or have illustrated the biblical concept of love by Christians for one another.
Some of their artworks are sold as gift cards, wall portraits or wall charts while others are in the form of graphic designs printed on various Christian publications.
Some fine artists who have focused on the theme of love include Thomas Blackshear, Thomas Kinkade, Makoto Fujimura and Leonardo da Vinci among others.
Love is also a theme of several Christian songs by artists across different church denominations the world over.
Among these include “Tis love that makes us happy” by Franklin Edson Belden, “Yes, Jesus loves me” by Anna Warner, “More than anything” by John Mohr and Randall Dennis.
Locally, we have songs such as “Without Love” by Shower Power, “Love Can Turn the World” and “Jesus Love the Little Ones” by Firm Faith, “Munerudo” by Sabastian Magacha and “Wakatura” by Mercy Mutsvene among others.
Overall, love is an important theme of the gospel and by it every conceivable life-form derives its existence from God.
Humans need to reflect the love of God, and maintain cordial relations with each other based on love.
Since love is such an important element of the Christian faith, any sermon, song, music, or work of art dedicated to the gospel needs to project God as love in order to fully communicate the gospel and to achieve sinners’ repentance.
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Peter Tanyanyiwa
Online Reporter