By Jarrod Judge
Our God is love, that is what scripture tells us in 1 John 4 Vs 8 (NLT)”But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” Our God is love and if we believe that statement to be true then how we interact with people should be a clear demonstration of that love. 1 John very clearly tells us that if we don’t love all people then we don’t actually know who the God we serve is. That is a frightening thought that we could spend our entire lives claiming to love God and yet we don’t actually know him because we have not loved those around us. So, I hope that all these past blogs have helped you to see what love and more specifically biblical love looks like. Today I want to challenge us on a new type of love, one that I don’t see many people talk about and maybe it’s because it’s so strange and almost impossible to understand in our modern culture. The Love that I want to touch on today is found in 1 Samuel but begins in 1 Samuel 18:1 “After David had finished talking with Saul, he met Jonathan, the king’s son. There was an immediate bond between them, for Jonathan loved David.”
Now let’s clear one thing up this is not a romantic love, unfortunately today’s culture has warped what love between 2 people can mean. This is why I said it would be difficult for us to understand this love looking through our modern cultural eyes, so time to replace those eyes with biblical eyes or else you will miss what I am saying here today. The love that Jonathan had for David was a God given love. One that was sacrificial and selfless in nature. This is not the last time that the scripture mentions the love between David and Jonathan. No, in fact throughout the time that Jonathan and David were friends it is often mentioned that there was a deep unbreakable love between them. I fear that today we have lost what that love looks like. It is a love that I have fought with and struggle to understand, I have even asked if there is an explanation as to why David and Jonathan had such a deep Love for one another else where in scripture but alas I have found nothing. This is why I say, it is a love that could only come from the Lord.
Now here is what I do suspect this love is and what it looks like. This love is a very clear demonstration of sacrificial love. David and Jonathan were so close that Jonathan was even aware that Samuel had anointed David as the next future king. But this doesn’t hinder their love, no in fact Jonathan pushes deeper into helping David achieve the throne. Go and read the story of David and Jonathan especially during the time that Saul was trying to kill David, you will quickly see that Jonathan was doing everything he could to protect David and yet this was the man that was going to take away his birth right. Jonathan was in line to be the next king and yet he lays that down when he hears that God’s anointed Prophet Samuel has anointed David as the next king. I can’t believe that David is called a man after God’s own heart when here is Jonathan laying down his birth right to see God’s will fulfilled. This is something that in today’s culture makes no sense. Today’s culture is all about what can I get out of each situation, today’s culture says that I deserve x y and z. And yet here is Jonathan contradicting what our culture preaches. I wish I could emphasize this more; it was Jonathan’s birth right to be king and yet he completely lays that aside not only lays it aside but loves David completely and wholly and does everything within his power to protect God’s next appointed King. This is sacrificial love, this is love that we in our modern culture lack.
If I can encourage you, go and read and look into Jonathan as a character. When we speak about love we often speak about the love between a husband and a wife but God’s Love is so much more. God Is love and if we believe that our God Is love then we need to begin to investigate all aspects of that love that the Bible teaches. Here today, I hope that I was able to give you a glimpse into what real sacrificial love between friends looks like. A love that cost Jonathan everything even his own life. He did it and did it with love because he wanted to see the Calling that God had on his Friends Life come to pass. How many of us would be willing to lay down our right too things we are “owed” to see another person’s calling come to fruition. How many of us would be willing to lay down our lives to see people saved, to see people’s lives transformed by the Love of Christ. Our God is Love, if we cannot be a people who learn from Jonathan and to Sacrifice things to see the will of God achieved then just as 1 John said, WE DON’T KNOW GOD.
May I encourage you to learn what this Amazing love is that God calls us to – because God has loved us so much.