What a lofty standard to follow—to love one another as Christ has loved us. How did He love? He loved in spite of all our weakness, failures and sins. His love rose above every barrier, proving itself superior to every hindrance. Many waters could not quench His love—not even the dark waters of death, for He loved us and gave Himself for us.
Such love is to be our model. We are to love one another as Christ loved us. It is the outflow of the divine nature in the believer. It may express itself in various ways—at times, rebuking, reproving, or even smiting. Our Lord had occasionally to do so in reference to those whom, notwithstanding, He loved with an everlasting, unchangeable love.
True love is not blind, for it occupies itself with my faults in order to deliver me. “[Love] suffereth long, and is kind. . . . [Love] never faileth” (1 Cor. 13:48). “Little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:1818My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:18)).
There are two kinds of spurious love—sectarian and clique. There is a great danger in loving a person merely because they hold the same opinions as we (sectarian) or because their habits and tastes are agreeable to us (clique). It is not Christian love to love our own opinions or our own image. True Christian love is to love the image of Christ wherever we may see it.
C. H. Mackintosh (from Things New and Old )