How Love Wins

The New Testament talks a lot about love. We are told to love God,[1] love one another,[2] love our neighbor,[3] and even love our enemies.[4]  

In 2011, a wonderful CD was published entitled, “Music Inspired by The Story.” One of the most beautiful songs on that album is “How Love Wins,” sung by Steven Curtis Chapman.

As Christians, I hope we all like the idea of love winning, because that means Jesus wins, and God wins.

So how does love win?

The song, “How Love Wins,” is sung by one of the thieves on the cross beside Jesus. The song recognizes that love wins through Christ’s sacrifice, through his obedience, through his willingness to suffer a most painful and humiliating death in order to save us from the judgment and wrath we deserve. Love wins through Jesus’ love for us.

Love also wins when each of us tries to be like Jesus. We do that by doing what Jesus told us to do. For example, he told us to treat others the way we would like to be treated,[5] to judge ourselves instead of others,[6] and to serve other people.[7]

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus paints a picture of judgment, where people are separated into “sheep” and “goats,” the righteous and the unrighteous, the saved and the condemned. The distinction between them is whether or not they showed love to their fellow human beings: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, taking care of the sick, visiting the prisoners. Those who did so are praised and celebrated, while those who did not are cursed and doomed.

In a nutshell, that is how love wins—by spreading Jesus’ love.

[1]. Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27

[2]. John 13:34-35, 15:12, 15:17; Romans 12:10, 13:8; Ephesians 4:2; 1 Thessalonians 3:12

[3]. Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27

[4]. Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:27, 6:35

[5]. Matthew 7:12

[6]. Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 6:37, 6:41-42

[7]. Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45; Luke 22:25-27