As dearly loved children, we are called to walk in love. We may think that we already know what love is. But do we really? Karl Barth tells us we can never know the real meaning of love from some chosen master-concept of love in general. We must rather turn our eyes on Jesus as the revelation of God’s love. For through Jesus, God opens himself to us showing his love for us and the kind of love he calls for in response. Therefore, when defining true love, we can only look at Jesus. Only he shows us what true love is.
How can we walk in such love? We cannot naturally love this way. Where does this love come from? In spite of our natural lack of love, we are met by Jesus in the Spirit. In that living encounter, Jesus comes to us as the one who loved us and gave himself for us. And, in that same encounter, the love of God is poured freely into our hearts by his Spirit. Now we know that we are deeply loved and called to walk in love as the Spirit of love works the love of God within us. We work out the love in our daily walk, but only as the God who is love works his own love within us. We must always remember that it is as dearly loved children that we are called to walk in love. And so we never turn our eyes on our own love, but only on the love that God is for us and in us