Pursue Love as a Priority
David W Palmer
The Holy Spirit repeatedly tells us to pursue love, so it must be very important. But what does it mean?
(1 Corinthians 14:1 NKJV) “Pursue love ….”
(1 Timothy 6:11 NKJV) “But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness.”
(2 Timothy 2:22 NKJV) “Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace ….”
Despite his teaching that salvation is not through law keeping, the apostle Paul certainly doesn’t hold back from issuing directives and instructions to the body of Christ. Three times he tells us to “pursue” love, and twice here he tells us what to flee from. In other words, he is saying that running is not an option, only the choice as to the direction of our pursuit. As the Holy Spirit inspired all of God’s holy scripture—including these three passages—this makes it very clear that God expects us to go for love, to make it a goal, and to actively give it a high priority; this is a responsibility he has unmistakably delegated to us.
The Greek word translated here as, “pursue,” means to run swiftly in order to catch a person or thing, to run after, to press on. Figuratively, it is used of one who in a race runs swiftly to reach the goal before his opponent reaches it. Our goal is love, and the Holy Spirit urges us to seek after it eagerly, to earnestly endeavor to acquire it as our priority in life. (Thankfully, God has poured his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit; so our objective is to access and release this love into every situation and circumstance of life.) This is because, as our Lord Jesus warned us, in these end times, the love of most will grow cold:
(Matthew 24:12 NASB) “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.”
So …
Always Add Love
(2 Peter 1:5–8 NKJV) “But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, {6} to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, {7} to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. {8} For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
In this passage, the Holy Spirit through the apostle Peter exhorts and instructs us in a progressive list of things that we need to establish in our lives. He begins with “faith.” Faith is first on the list because that is where we begin; when we first hear God speak to us—say through the gospel message—faith comes into our hearts by “hearing the word” (Rom. 10:17 NHEB). This faith then becomes our first point of encounter in trusting God—if, that is, we act on it by receiving Jesus and his new birth. To this faith, Peter instructs us to “add” virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and then “love.” He concludes by saying that if these are in you and abound, you won’t be unfruitful or barren. But then he adds an astounding and monumental caveat:
(2 Peter 1:9–10 DKJV) “But he that lacks these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. {10} Therefore, brothers and sisters, be diligent to make your calling and election sure; for if you do these things, you shall never fall.”
Wow! Did you see that? “If you do these things” diligently, “you shall never fall.” We live in the time of the great “falling away” (2 Thes. 2:3 NKJV); this is an imminent danger for us all. Jesus even said that the love of “many” or “most” would grow cold. He also said that if possible, fake signs and wonders “shall deceive the very elect” (Mat. 24:24 NIV). Yet through Peter, the Holy Spirit has just given us a surefire way of ensuring that we don’t “fall.” It begins with faith, and culminates when we add love. Is love that important? Yes, but so are faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, perseverance, godliness, and kindness.
Ensure Your Love for One Another
