One of the biggest and most obvious distinctions between a mature and still developing Christian is their vocabulary. Christian maturity is achieved by consistent immersion in God’s Word so that one’s own words begin to conform to His definitions rather than the world’s corrupted meaning. One does not have to spend much time in God’s Word to learn that the biblical definition of words like “faith”, “hope”, and “love” are actually quite different than how we’ve been using them in everyday life. At the heart of the biblical definition of “love” is an assumption of personal sacrifice and service that doesn’t quite fit the world’s notion of same.

The list of attributes provided here all describe giving and being loving. The focus is far more weighted towards the responsibilities to generate love than to receive it. The requirement is to go beyond just having a loving attitude and outlook to the point of personal sacrifice and service becoming visibly evident. In other words, biblical love seeks every opportunity to express itself outward to others, not to simply reciprocate with love like what others might first express towards us. It’s our responsibility to put it into practice even if it means limiting our self in the process.

But there is a tangible benefit for us expressed by the statement to “put on love…the perfect bond of unity“. The basic concept in Greek of the word translated “bond” is “loss of freedom”. Picture your hands bound as a sign of being another’s prisoner. I find this especially striking because over the past decade the question most often put to me by other Christians is what does a particular church have to offer them or how does its programs meet their perceived needs; rarely has there been the individual who initiates the conversation from the perspective of what they need to personally sacrifice to become more Christ-like for the sake of the body.

One of the lessons we’re supposed to learn from the example of Christ’s life is that He being fully God chose to limit those attributes in order to love and serve and sacrifice for others. He’s the ultimate example of placing a personal, limiting constraint on self for the greater good of the rest. Biblical unity in Christ is not achieved by banding together with those who think the same as us, but who will eventually achieve like-mindedness by our willingness to sacrifice our self in the mean time until it’s achieved._††_†

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