Aware that love of God and neighbor is a central teaching of Scripture, I did my doctoral dissertation on “The Concept of Love in the Psychology of Sigmund Freud.” I learned that though this influential thinker had no faith in God, he stressed the supreme importance of love.

Freud wrote, for example, that the best way to “escape from the cares of life” and “forget real misery” is to follow the path “that expects all satisfaction to come from loving and being loved.” On this point, Freud was in agreement with the Bible, which focuses on love.

Scripture teaches that “God is love” (1 John 4:8). It also teaches the importance of “faith working through love” (Gal. 5:6). So the great problem we all face is how to rid ourselves of sinful self-love while sincerely loving God and neighbor (Matt. 22:37-39; 1 John 3:14). The gospel with its message of the life-transforming love of Christ provides the only answer to that problem. Paul declared in Romans 5:5, “The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

Have you experienced the infilling of God’s love? Only when you trust Jesus as Savior will the Holy Spirit of love begin to flow in and through you.  — Vernon C. Grounds