The 3 Colors Of Love

Schwarz, Christian, A. The 3 Colors Of Love. The art of receiving justice, truth, and grace. ChurchSmart Resources. St. Charles, Il. 2004
Introduction.
Love is the heart of Christian faith. Three distinctives of love are targeted in this book. Love is a biblical concept based on a “Trinitarian compass”.p10. The reflection of God’s love is a very personal thing. Love is central to church growth.

Ch. 1. Foundations. What are the three colors of love?
The lack of love is the source of many serious problems. e.g. power struggles, lack of trust, etc. No one is exempt from this problem. One of the reasons why even the church is lacking in love is misconceptions of what love is. e.g. “Love is always soft.” P16. “If you really love, you must be an enemy of my enemies.” P17. Love is not a characteristic of God it is the nature of God. We must not project our non-biblical understanding of love into the statement- God is love. Justice, truth, and grace are God’s love in action. God is also light. Light is a universal, intercultural metaphor. It is used in scripture to describe the aspects of God’s love. “Darkness is the absence of light.” P26. To practice love means to reflect God’s love. Love is portrayed by the three primary colors, green, red, and blue. The color green is justice. Its core value is compassion and its focus is society. Martin Luther King is a contemporary example of one who stood for justice. The color red is truth. The core value is trustworthiness and the focus is on the Bible and reality. Francis Schaeffer is a contemporary example. The color blue is grace. The core value is acceptance and the focus is on the individual. Example- Mother Teresa. Schwarz goes on to look at three biblical writers that address the ‘three colors of love’. James is a model of justice. John is a model of truth. Paul is a model of grace. “Training your love muscles includes leaving your comfort zone.” P40. The discussion moves to primary and secondary virtues of love. Compassion is primary and fairness is secondary, etc. Some observations are made about cultures that focus on one of the three aspects of love and develop an imbalanced character. e.g. grace becomes hypocrisy. Learning to love is a real challenge. Some practical suggestions are made regarding a process of personal growth in loving.

Ch. 2. Your Starting Point. How to reflect God’s love.
Since love is the fruit of the Holy Spirit it will be helpful to look at the fruit analogy. Fruit is visible. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love and is evidenced by joy, peace, patience, etc. Gal. 5:22-23. When it comes to the demonstration of love the ‘minimum factor’ principle of Natural Church Development applies. Focus on the weak areas to bring about balance. Beware of artificial fruit. In 1 Cor. 13 Paul puts the fruit of the Spirit in perspective. A “Fruit of the Spirit Test” p63-66 is presented. Instructions are given regarding the evaluation and application of the results of the test. Love literally touches all dimensions of your life.” P79.

Ch. 3. Personal Growth. Twelve exercises that can revolutionize your life.
1. Fill up with God’s love. 2. Love yourself. 3. Wear other people’s glasses. 4. Put an end to spiritual hypocrisy. 5. Learn to trust. 6. Make yourself vulnerable. 7. Dare to forgive. 8. Be transparent. 9. Train active listening. 10. Surprise with gifts. 11. Use your humor. 12. Have a meal together.

Ch. 4. Growing Together. Eight exercises to transform your church into an oasis of love.
1. ‘Give off your scent gentlemen.’ Effectiveness is more about being than doing. 2. ‘Just for the fun of it’. Getting together without a spiritual agenda. 3. ‘Boredom forbidden.’ Boredom is an absence of love. 4. ‘Glad you’re here.’ Learn to say ‘I love you’ in a culturally acceptable way. 5. ‘Let me walk in your moccasins.’ 6. ‘The oikos principle.’ Oikos has to do with a person’s influence and personal relationships.7. ‘What are your gifts?’ “Gift-oriented ministry is one of the most powerful instruments that God has given us for our lives as Christians and for the development of his church” p134 Gifts are very much a part of loving relationships. 8. ‘May I pray for you?’ Prayer is crucial in the ability to love. “Christian love is the strongest force on planet earth.” P141.