Christ proved his love by enduring the scoffs and ill-treatment of the
people and the shame and suffering of the cross. By this he proved his
love to be real. If our love is genuine, as was that of the saints of old,
we can rejoice that we are counted worthy to suffer for His name. Paul
endured all things for the elect’s sake, that they might be saved. If we
can not endure the little persecutions, the unkind words, the sneering
smiles, the scoffs and jeers, of the unbelieving world, is it not because
our love lacks fervency? The early church took joyfully the spoiling of
their goods because they loved their Lord far more than they loved their
goods. God’s ministers in all ages have endured hardships and perils and
have suffered in a thousand ways without faltering, because they loved
souls as God loves them.
Sometimes people quote the text, “We know that we have passed from death
unto life because we love the brethren”; but if these same brethren do
something that does not please them, they are offended and grieved and are
full of complaint and murmuring, and it is hard for them to be reconciled
to their brethren. Is the love of such people genuine? Does it really
prove that they have passed from death unto life? Many think that the
preacher ought to be willing to endure almost anything for the cause (and
so he should), but they do not consider that the same love in them will
give them the same spirit of endurance and willingness to suffer as it
gives to the minister. Love that can not endure hardness,
misrepresentation, neglect, and such things, and still be sweet and
strong, needs to be increased.
Love makes service sweet, sacrifice easy, and meek endurance possible.
Love enriches, ennobles, and blesses. It sweetens the bitter cup: it
lightens the heavy load. It strengthens the faltering soul. Let us,
therefore, see that we have fervent love toward God, toward each other,
and toward the lost world.