love

how am i supposed to love everyone?! can love be given out so easily? does it say in the bible that it can? i know that God loves everyone, but how can i? im only human. does everyone really deserve love?

[Dmurray]

I've struggled with this lately, and had revelation about it also.

Yes everyone deserves love. We're witnesses to Christ Jesus. We are to Love everyone no matter what they do to us, because we want them to be with God just as much as God wants them to. If someone does something wrong to us, God will have vengence on them, it's not our job to.

God loves us, even though we didn't and sometimes still don't deserve his love. But we learn to love everyone else by learning to love him. And we learn to love him by talking to him and reading the Bible. The more we do that the stronger and more intimate our relationship becomes with God.

Mar 12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
Mar 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
Mar 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
Mar 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

Our neighbour is our enemy.

The Bible talks a lot about love. For instance the Fruits of the Spirit, the First one is Love, because with love comes the rest.

Love is the foundation of our relationship with God, and with that we learn to love others as well.

Pray that God will teach you his perfect love, and how to love others.

God Bless.

[silverwind]

it is always easy to love the 'lovable', and hard to love those that mistreat us or use us. that is not the kind of love Jesus is talking about tho', it is sacrificial love, unconditional love that we as Christians must show.. it is the LOVE of GOD in us that is the ONLY love capable of loving our enemies. if you can have compassion on your enemies, then that is the correct "love" Jesus is talking about.

[resurrection33]

Originally Posted by tkgurl

how am i supposed to love everyone?! can love be given out so easily? does it say in the bible that it can? i know that God loves everyone, but how can i? im only human. does everyone really deserve love?

Before answering the question, perhaps we need to know if love is the way we FEEL about people or the way we TREAT people. I think love is the way we treat people.

Originally Posted by silverwind

it is always easy to love the 'lovable', and hard to love those that mistreat us or use us. that is not the kind of love Jesus is talking about tho', it is sacrificial love, unconditional love that we as Christians must show.. it is the LOVE of GOD in us that is the ONLY love capable of loving our enemies. if you can have compassion on your enemies, then that is the correct "love" Jesus is talking about.

very much agreed

Sometimes loving someone doesn't mean liking them.

I have a teacher who is unsufferable. She's completely selfish and makes excuses to break engagments with students, blow people off, not teach, be unprepared, walk in late, not answer emails.

We dont get along. I'm a 24 year old woman not an 18 year old kid so I think she sees that I hold her more "accountable" for her actions than previous students.

I think that loving her would be to pray for her, forgive her, and go the extra mile to help her/understand her. This is just an example.

Originally Posted by silverwind

it is always easy to love the 'lovable', and hard to love those that mistreat us or use us. that is not the kind of love Jesus is talking about tho', it is sacrificial love, unconditional love that we as Christians must show.. it is the LOVE of GOD in us that is the ONLY love capable of loving our enemies. if you can have compassion on your enemies, then that is the correct "love" Jesus is talking about.

so then are compassion and love the same thing? how are they different?

[Dmurray]

There is two types of love, aggape and phileo I believe. Search them up and see what you get

Originally Posted by Dmurray

There is two types of love, aggape and phileo I believe. Search them up and see what you get

yeah. i dont need to i know what your talking about. and i think theres three types. one is agape and that is a caring/unconditional type of love. phileo is a friendship love. and eros is a romantic love....wow i kind of answered my own question

[Dmurray]

well eros would fall under agappe, because that love turns into unconditional love, the love God has for us, and the love a husband has for his wife.

I've never heard of eros before though. Maybe it's not greek?

Originally Posted by Dmurray

well eros would fall under agappe, because that love turns into unconditional love, the love God has for us, and the love a husband has for his wife.

I've never heard of eros before though. Maybe it's not greek?

yeah but i think eros is more....well...i dont know. i guess it could be classified as agape. but it is kind of different. and im pretty sure eros is greek.

One day at a time. Don't forget, we are only human. We get mad, frustrated, and angry with people sometimes. That can make it hard to love. I have learned that sometimes "love" starts with forgiveness. I got taught a lesson on forgiveness once by someone, and I asked them, "Well, what if that person does it again?" The reply, I got was "then forgive them again". I thought that was great advice. My point is, loving starts with you. You don't really have to physically "love" everyone you meet. That's impossible. It's more a state of mind, or character trait. I think it can be defined by, "caring, gentleness, and compassion." You could also call it "Christian Integrity". Being kind towards someone even when no one is looking. You will struggle with this the rest of your life. It's hard. Sometimes people make us angry, and we don't want to be nice to them. Just remember, love starts with forgiveness. Without forgiveness, you cannot love.

Originally Posted by leeannabanana

One day at a time. Don't forget, we are only human. We get mad, frustrated, and angry with people sometimes. That can make it hard to love. I have learned that sometimes "love" starts with forgiveness. I got taught a lesson on forgiveness once by someone, and I asked them, "Well, what if that person does it again?" The reply, I got was "then forgive them again". I thought that was great advice. My point is, loving starts with you. You don't really have to physically "love" everyone you meet. That's impossible. It's more a state of mind, or character trait. I think it can be defined by, "caring, gentleness, and compassion." You could also call it "Christian Integrity". Being kind towards someone even when no one is looking. You will struggle with this the rest of your life. It's hard. Sometimes people make us angry, and we don't want to be nice to them. Just remember, love starts with forgiveness. Without forgiveness, you cannot love.

well its hard to forgive someone when they continue to do the same thing that hurts you even after they say they will change....

Originally Posted by tkgurl

yeah but i think eros is more....well...i dont know. i guess it could be classified as agape. but it is kind of different. and im pretty sure eros is greek.

i dont think eros is biblical. but it kind of covers physical/emotional love i guess.

[VW]

Jesus gave us a new commandment, a simple yet impossible commandment, that is, impossible for us to carry out on our own. He said for us to love one another even as He has loved us. Think about these words, even as He has loved us. We would be hopeless except that God is love, and that He so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son into the world.

So how do we love even as God is love? Well, it is not coming from ourselves, that is for sure.

The only way is by the Holy Spirit. For the love of God is shed abroad into the world through our hearts by the Spirit.

[Dmurray]

It can be hard, but we just have to forgive and forget. Easier said then done though. Don't be bitter, be a witness of Christ and bear good fruit. For no good tree can bear bad fruit and no bad tree can bear good fruit. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. Just be kind, friendly and Godly towards them

everythings is so much easier said than done! so frustrating!.....i have the hardest time forgiving and forgetting. i think its because i cant seem to forgive myself. like ill ask God for forgiveness for something and ill still let it trouble and discourage me....if i could just forgive myself maybe id have an easier time forgiving others..

[Dmurray]

Hmm, ask God to convict you of what is bothering you, ask him to help you, always. Ask him to lead you into God given repentance through Godly sorrow. It feels so great I struggle with that too, it just comes with time. God will give you revelation about it. My pastor said he struggled with it until he was about 16, but one night at the Altar call he just realized that he is forgiven and he can just put it all on God. All our worries, sorrows, anxiety, everything, we just have to learn to pass it onto God's shoulders so he can take care of it

Originally Posted by tkgurl

how am i supposed to love everyone?! can love be given out so easily? does it say in the bible that it can? i know that God loves everyone, but how can i? im only human. does everyone really deserve love?

I think the answer is in the parable of the Samaritan. Who is your neighbor? The one whom you have opportunity to love. To try to feel love for every person in the world doesn't work. Just love the one whom God brings into your path.
Also, love is not an emotion, it is an action. It's not a matter of feeling a certain way, it's a matter of acting a certain way.

Originally Posted by Dmurray

well eros would fall under agappe, because that love turns into unconditional love, the love God has for us, and the love a husband has for his wife.

I've never heard of eros before though. Maybe it's not greek?

Oy. No. Eros doesn't fall under agape. Eros is the antithesis of agape. Agape is selfless, unconditional, undeserved love. Eros is a selfish, conditional love. You do not have to do anything to receive agape, you can not do anything to deserve agape. You have to meet certain criteria to receive eros.

And there are 4 loves: agape, eros, philia, and storge. Agape and Philia are mentioned in the New Testament. Storge and Eros are not.

agape is the type of love God has for us and the type of love He expects us to display with one another.
eros is the type of love associated with lust.
philia is friendly love. (not to be confused with philio which means "to kiss", or philiadelphia which means "brotherly love")
storge is family love.

***

God expects us to display agape, and the most important thing to note about agape is that it is a love NOT based in emotion. No matter how you feel, you can still display agape. Agape is done by decision, and not by feelings. Basically all agape is is giving someone what they need(not want).

The trick is to accept that you cannot fulfill the needs of every person you meet. Also, you should definitely pray to God whenever helping someone to make sure you are fulfilling the needs God wants you to fulfill. For example, while a person may need money, God may not want you to give the person money. God may want you to simply pray for the person. Praying for people is a form of agape, because every person needs to be prayed for. And by your praying, God may send someone else to give the person money that needed money.

In order to love your enemies, simply pray to God and ask Him how you can display agape to those people. I don't like my current president, but I can show him love by praying for him daily and not speaking words of ill toward him. If there is a coworker you dislike, or something of the sort, pray for the coworker. Maybe ask the coworker if there is anything going on in his/her life that you could pray about for him/her. Offer a word of encouragement. Love doesn't have to be this huge, grandiose thing.

Honestly, though, to truly love someone, you need to study the characteristics of God and the characteristics God expects Christians to have. Compassion, mercy, obedience, respect, lawfulness, etc. Love encompasses all of these. Love is compassionate when it needs to be, disciplinary when it needs to be, understanding, strict, merciful, etc. It all depends on the situation and the person, which is why prayer and studying the Word is so important.