I Corinthians 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Another word for charity, as it is used in this verse, is love. God’s Word speaks loudly and in great depth about this love. This sharing is intended to present for your consideration a little bit about this love and to encourage you to continue in your study and application of this love.

I John 4:7, 8, 16
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

These verses tell us that this love is of God, that God is love and that when we dwell in love we dwell in God. This love we are talking about is the love that comes from God. This love we are considering is the love that started with God. This love is not what man decides it is but this love is what God is – it is His nature, His essence, the essential quality of God. For the scriptures tell us that God is love.

Mark 12:32-34b
And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
 
And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
 
And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God.

The scriptures tell us that God is love. And Jesus told this man, who had understanding concerning the greatness of walking in this love, that he was not far from the kingdom of God.

I John 3:1a
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God:

God who is love, gave of that love to us in that we should be called the sons of God. Most Greek texts add the phrase, “and we are” after the phrase, “that we should be called the sons of God.” That we are sons of God shows us the greatness of the love that God has given unto us.

II Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

The spirit life we receive as sons of God is one of power, love and a sound mind. When we are born again we become children of God by God giving unto us a spirit of love (among other things). God gives unto us His essence or nature which is love. Because of this, we have the ability to love as God loves.

Ephesians 5:1-2b
Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children;
 
And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us,

God requires that we, as children worthy of His love, be imitators of Him by walking in this love. If God requires us to do this then it must be available for us to walk this way. And our example of this love is Christ – as he loved us.

Ephesians 3:17
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

God’s will for us is to be rooted and grounded in love. To be rooted is to be firmly fixed. To be grounded is to lay the foundation or to be founded firmly. God wants us to lay a firm foundation of love and firmly fix ourselves to that love.

God is love. He is the source of love, for love comes from Him. A lot of what God’s kingdom is about can be found in love. God gave of this love to us and put in us His nature, which is love. God requires us to be imitators of Him, and walk in love as Jesus Christ loved us. And we are to lay the foundation of love and firmly fix ourselves to that foundation of love.
 
There are many benefits to walking in God’s love. God does not just tell us to walk in love but He also tells us about the benefits to walking in love.

I John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.

In order to love with this love that comes from God, a person needs to be born of God. To be born of God is to receive from God the gift of the spirit of God which is a spirit of love. And as a person loves with this love, that person knows God. The word “knoweth” in this verse is to be acquainted with, to perceive or to get a feel for someone.

I John 4:8
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

He that does not walk in this love may be born of God, but he does not know God. A person who does not walk in this love is not acquainted with God, he has not come to know Him.

It is in love that we know God. The more we grow in love, the more we know God. We may have head knowledge of God from His Word, but without love we do not perceive God, we are not acquainted with Him. Without being motivated by love ourselves we will not understand the power of love that motivates God to do the things He does. Without a practical knowledge of love, we will not understand impractical things that are done in love.
 
Why would God give His only begotten son for man who is dead in trespasses and sins? Why would Jesus Christ allow himself to go through torture and death when he had 72,000 angels available to him? Why does God allow the devil to exist today? Why did God make man in the first place? Why does God continue to give His spirit to men and women when they continue to ignore it or misuse it for the most part? Unless we walk in love ourselves and know first-hand the motivating power of love, we will not know God. A great benefit of love is that we will know God.

I John 4:9-11
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
 
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
 
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

God’s love is so big and unchanging that whether we love God or not, God is love. Our lack of love or the greatness of our love does not change God who is love. But it is God’s continuing love for us that encourages us to love. As we continue to learn God’s Word and do our best to apply it in our lives, eventually we will catch on and listen to God’s encouragement to love one another. When we make a move towards love we make a move towards God. For God is love.

I John 2:5
But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

God is love, and when we keep His Word we will manifest God’s love and we will know that we are in God.  God’s love is completed, it is brought to an end, it is finished in each one of us as we keep His Word.

I John 4:12
No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

When we love one another with this love that comes from God, God dwells in us (the body of Christ) and His love is completed, it is brought to an end, it is finished in us (the body of Christ).
 
Let us look at a section of scripture dealing with some practical application of God’s Word that will help us to walk in love more and more.

I Thessalonians 4:8b
…but God, who hath also given unto us his holy spirit.

This section of scripture starts by reminding us that the holy spirit is given unto us by God. It is a gift of God’s love - no question about that.

I Thessalonians 4:9
But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

The word “but” sets in contrast, the gift of God’s love which is holy spirit (a spirit of love) to that which we should do with this spirit of love. And specifically, in this verse we are talking about what we should do with this spirit of love towards our brothers and sisters in Christ. God loved us and made us His sons. God’s love to us is sure and unquestionable. Now, we should love one another.

This verse says that we are taught of God to love one another. There are two ways that we are taught of God: from the written Word of God (which includes the example of Jesus Christ) and by God revealing things to us by way of the spirit (which cannot and will not contradict the written Word of God). We need to take the lessons we learn from these sources and put them into practical application.

Spiritually, we are lacking nothing. But we can have everything spiritually and not really manifest it in our lives. The gift of holy spirit is given one time, but our walk (of love) is to be continually growing.

I Thessalonians 4:10
And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;

Even though we do walk in love, we can always increase in love more and more. God exhorts us to abound in love to an even greater degree.

I Thessalonians 4:11-12
And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
 
That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

There are five qualities of life in these two verses that a son of God will want to develop in order to increase in love more and more.
 
Study to be quiet :
 
The word “study” in the text means to strive to bring something to pass from a love of honor. It is to put forth strength from the love that you have for yourself. To walk in love includes loving yourself. You can not really love someone else if you do not love yourself.
 
The words “to be quiet” mean to be at rest, to be still, to be at ease within yourself.
 
From the love that you have for yourself, you bring to pass an ease, a rest within yourself. You are not fighting within yourself. You are not stewing about things. You know God’s Word is sure and you are at rest. What a great quality to build in your life that will help you to increase in love more and more. What this brings to mind is the saying, “Great cargoes in life come in over quiet seas.”
 
Do your own business :
 
The words “to do” in the text means to be busy with, to be occupied with or to manage public affairs. The words “your own” are the Greek word idios, which means ones own or his own.
 
God says in His Word that if you want to increase in love more and more then mind your own business, be occupied with your own affairs. We teach God’s Word and we are there to help and bless others, but we are not to be busy with other people’s affairs. We take care of our own business. We take care of what God has given us to do.

Work with your own hands :
 
God says in His Word to work with your hands. Each one of us is to get involved in doing things. We do not just sit around and give orders. It may take more than just you to get something done, but you get in there and help.
 
The phrase, “as we commanded you” refers to all of the above. Paul had already taught these things but now it is written in God’s Word. These are things that we need encouragement to do so that we can grow up into the fullness of the love of God and have God’s love brought to a completion in us.
 
That you may walk honestly towards them that are without
 
The words “to walk honestly” mean to conduct ourselves decently or properly. We need to let others see someone who is walking in love. We cannot be indifferent to the impact our example of walking in love may have on others. We do these things so that those who are without may see someone who has the fullness of the spirit of God living in them. It is not obvious who “the without” is referring to, but if we walk honestly towards all men then we will be sure to walk honestly towards those who are without.

That you may have lack of nothing :
 
This phrase can be understood as, “to have need of nothing.” Not that we do not need each other or the body of Christ, but we so work with our hands and do our own business that we have need of nothing because we provide for ourselves. We do not deliberately live off of the generosity of others – that is not living love.
 
These are qualities of life that God says we should develop  so that we will increase in love more and more.

I Corinthians 13:13
And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

God desires that we learn from Him about this love that comes from Him. And God desires that we make the effort to put this love of God into practice in our lives. It is up to each one of us to do this if we are going to live love and keep God’s Word.
 
As each of us lives love by keeping God’s Word, to that extent God’s love is completed in each of us. And as we love one another, God’s love is completed is us, the body of Christ.
 
It is in this love that we know God. It is in this love that God dwells in us. All this is available for us because God loves us, because He made us His sons and gave to us of His spirit, a spirit of love.
 
We may not know everything about God’s love or be fully living God’s love right now, but we know that God loves us. And in God’s love, we can learn about this love and we can grow in the practical application of this love to the point that we are the completion of God’s love.