Love: The Winning Strategy

‘Love never fails.’ 

1 Corinthians 13:8 NIV (2011 Edition)

‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?’ 

Luke 6:32 NKJV

The Bible says, ‘Love never fails.’ Think about it: money doesn’t bring happiness, fame doesn’t bring self-worth, and revenge doesn’t bring satisfaction. The only thing that never fails is love. When Mother Teresa addressed world leaders at the United Nations, she was asked, ‘How can we have world peace?’ She replied, ‘Go home and love your family.’ If we all did that, ‘Paradise Lost’ would become ‘Paradise Found’! Napoleon Bonaparte’s intellectual greatness and intense egotism make his alleged tribute to the supremacy of leadership by love, all the more striking. He said, ‘Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself founded great empires: but upon what did the creations of our genius depend? Upon force.

Jesus alone founded His Empire upon love, and to this day millions would die for Him.’ Sometimes leaders are just power-holders. Because you can’t love others without making yourself vulnerable, they see expressing love as a weakness. But the fact is you can’t love and ‘keep all your options open’. To truly love - whether it’s your spouse, your children, or the people you lead - you must give yourself unreservedly in such a way that you can be hurt and even rejected. The fundamental principle on which power-holders operate is to protect themselves and everything they have. Whereas the fundamental principle of true leadership is to give of yourself with no holds barred. Love as an intrinsic characteristic of leadership seems outmoded, yet according to Scripture it’s still the winning strategy. The Bible says, ‘God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind’ (2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV). That’s why love is the winning strategy. 

The love talked about in Scripture isn’t a sentimental emotion that gives you goose bumps. It’s compassion, caring, and concern for the well-being of another. It’s based on commitment, not convenience. It’s an act of your will, not a reflex of your emotions. Jesus asks a question that makes you stop in your tracks. ‘If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you get credit?’ (vv. 32-33 NLT).

Loving is the hardest thing you’ll ever do, and it will require all the grace God can give you. Jesus continues: ‘Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them without expecting to be repaid. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as children of the Most High, for he is kind to those who are unthankful and wicked. You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate. Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn others, or it will all come back against you.

Forgive others, and you will be forgiven. Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full - pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over … The amount you give will determine the amount you get back’ (vv. 35-38 NLT). You say, ‘That’s a high standard!’ Yes, that’s why it’s the winning strategy. 

Bible in a Year: 2 King 24-25; Acts 13:26-52; 1 Chron 1-3; Acts 14;