10/21/2026
The Character of Love
Love Is More Than a Feeling—It Is a Life of Obedience
By Bishop A. Collins
“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love; even as I have kept the commandments of my Father and have abided in His love.” - John 15:10
We live in a world which is constantly talking about love, yet very much in ignorance of what love actually is. We've reduced love down to feelings, to attraction, to personal pleasure and to emotional attachment. We're very much in the habit of confusing loving someone with liking them or wanting something from them. But biblical love is something far greater. True love is unselfish, sacrificial benevolence which is all about giving what the other person actually needs, even at a cost to ourselves.
Love Is a Choice, Not Simply an Emotion
In John 15:10–15 love is directly linked to obedience. Love isn't only something we feel, it's something we choose to demonstrate. Feelings change, circumstances change, people let us down. True love doesn't hinge on everything being perfect. Love sets priorities. It brings people together, it creates harmony, it creates unity. Above all it moves us from self to selflessness. When you genuinely love someone their well-being is important to you. You're prepared to give up your own comfort, preferences, time and resources for their benefit. Love makes what is important to the other person important to us.
Love Covers, Perseveres, and Endures: Scripture says love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8). That doesn't mean love is blind to sin or that it condones wrong behavior. What it does mean is that love will not allow every disagreement, every offense, or every disappointment to be an opportunity for division. Love is about seeking reconciliation rather than retaliation. Love builds bridges not walls. Love endures when things get tough. It won't just give up and turn bitter simply because the circumstances are unpleasant. First Corinthians 13 reminds us that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Genuine love is tenacious. It won't walk away from its commitment just because the going gets tough.
Love Removes Barriers: One of the greatest qualities of love is its ability to break down walls. Pride builds walls. Fear creates distance. Selfishness breeds division. Love on the other hand invites honesty, openness, forgiveness and restoration. Love forces us to do things we've never done, to go places we've never been and to say things we might otherwise never have said. It moves us out of our comfort zone. When love is in the heart then serving others is a privilege rather than a burden. Sacrifice is an act of devotion rather than an inconvenience. And even in suffering love generates a joy which the circumstances of life cannot easily eradicate.
What we won’t do - we will do, for love.
Love Always Leads Toward Obedience: Here is where we must look at ourselves very closely. Can we really say that we love God while deliberately refusing to obey Him?
Jesus said, "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15).
Three main reasons drive human obedience: fear, duty and love. Fear works because it's terrified of the repercussions. Duty obeys because it sees itself as under an obligation. But love conforms because it wants to please the one it loves. Fear will keep us in line. Duty will instill discipline. Love will change the heart. The ultimate expression of Christian obedience isn't simply doing what God commands out of a fear of punishment. It's obedience because we love Him.
Love Reveals Who Lives Within Us: Ultimately love is the clearest proof that Jesus Christ is alive and active within us. We may have the Bible, we may have spiritual gifts, we may have ministry positions and we may have all sorts of abilities. But without love they are of no value whatsoever. The question isn't just whether we say we love God. The real questions is this: Does the way we treat people demonstrate His love? Does our love produce forgiveness, patience, sacrifice, perseverance, unity and obedience?
Love isn't just what we say. Love is what we do.
Collins Discipleship Institute Principle: Love is more than an emotion. It is a commitment. Fear will produce compliance, duty will produce discipline but true love will produce willing obedience. The best evidence that Christ is alive in us is that His love is being demonstrated through us.
Ad Gloriam Christi (For the Glory of Christ).
HOWICP / CDI