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1 Corinthians 13:4-8
New International Version (NIV)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
I believe this says it all.
New International Version (NIV)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.
I believe this says it all.
According to the Scriptures, Christian "agape" love toward both God and man is expressed by how you act toward each. For example, the love we show to God is obedience: For *this* is the love of God, that we keep his commandments:
1 John 5:3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,
And the love we show to man is obedience: 1 Cor. 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind, is not jealous; love does not brag, is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Each aspect of love toward both God and man is something we *do*, not something we feel.
John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
1 John 5:3 For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,
And the love we show to man is obedience: 1 Cor. 13:4-7 Love is patient, love is kind, is not jealous; love does not brag, is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Each aspect of love toward both God and man is something we *do*, not something we feel.
John 14:15 "If ye love me, keep my commandments."
Y
Eh...I have a peculiar association with love. I can't be sure that I have ever felt it. To read or listen to other people speak about love, it sounds foreign to me.
Familial love - I guess I kind of understand that. "I love you" was not a phrase I heard very often growing up. My family unit just wasn't an affectionate sort.
Brotherly love - I have a few friends in real life, and I appreciate knowing them, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that I love them.
Romantic love - Uhh...nope. I've had a crush a couple of times in my life. I was once very infatuated with a young lady. At one time in each of my marriages, I really liked the woman I was married to, but I was never - I have never, been "in love" with them. Why marry them? I'm the kind of guy who is lucky a woman will have anything to do with him at all, so if one is willing to have a relationship, I clung to it because I was too big a coward to be alone.
Familial love - I guess I kind of understand that. "I love you" was not a phrase I heard very often growing up. My family unit just wasn't an affectionate sort.
Brotherly love - I have a few friends in real life, and I appreciate knowing them, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that I love them.
Romantic love - Uhh...nope. I've had a crush a couple of times in my life. I was once very infatuated with a young lady. At one time in each of my marriages, I really liked the woman I was married to, but I was never - I have never, been "in love" with them. Why marry them? I'm the kind of guy who is lucky a woman will have anything to do with him at all, so if one is willing to have a relationship, I clung to it because I was too big a coward to be alone.
Y
Double post.
I just thought of something I read someplace that stuck with me and I say it in my head from time to time.
"Love, if it's worth anything, should be of the sort to blow your hair back. There are too many mediocre things in this world, and a person should never settle when it comes to love."
I just thought of something I read someplace that stuck with me and I say it in my head from time to time.
"Love, if it's worth anything, should be of the sort to blow your hair back. There are too many mediocre things in this world, and a person should never settle when it comes to love."
This is such a good post. I wrote a really long response but deleted it. I just want to encourage everyone to meditate on this. 1 co 13 is a great place to start but we must remember that God is love, and therefore mere words cannot properly describe the fullness of love. Jesus speaks about love in John 15:13. But the whole bible speaks about love. So I think it's important for us to define love by loving, always seeking to grow in love.
I actually once thought that love was a backstabber or some sort of demonic thing, it tends to leave at the time you least expect it to and can cause massive emotional damage that you may never fully recover from. True, everlasting love was what I thought to be a lie that everyone is decieved into believing. I really had trouble believing that God was actually that 'thing' when I returned from agnostic deism. Now, I have no idea what 'love' is anymore. It really just depends.
I know Scripture talks about love, relationships talk about love, and love is used in many contexts.
Here is my definition of God's love, or what it should entail, when lived out.
Love is defined as a choice that may yield a good feeling and is always placing another ahead of the choices made. It is not that love is unimportant, or less valuable; quite the contrary, it is the unforced self-giving nature of love that makes loves most important to a relationship. And when someone else does not show love, love does not begrudgingly smile. However, whatever the emotion, love does what it believes is best-- for the now, the next, and for eternity-- for everyone involved. In fact, love involves others to bless them. And love forgives-- even when the undesirable is prideful.
It is not stupid, puppy nuzzle. Love is the sacrifice that hopes for a greater return. Yes, love...always... Hopes.
Oh, and love may invite others to a certain experience, so they may feel the way love does. Love is grateful at the core. Finally, love does not die from disbelief or old age. True Love Endures.
That's what love is to me.
Here is my definition of God's love, or what it should entail, when lived out.
Love is defined as a choice that may yield a good feeling and is always placing another ahead of the choices made. It is not that love is unimportant, or less valuable; quite the contrary, it is the unforced self-giving nature of love that makes loves most important to a relationship. And when someone else does not show love, love does not begrudgingly smile. However, whatever the emotion, love does what it believes is best-- for the now, the next, and for eternity-- for everyone involved. In fact, love involves others to bless them. And love forgives-- even when the undesirable is prideful.
It is not stupid, puppy nuzzle. Love is the sacrifice that hopes for a greater return. Yes, love...always... Hopes.
Oh, and love may invite others to a certain experience, so they may feel the way love does. Love is grateful at the core. Finally, love does not die from disbelief or old age. True Love Endures.
That's what love is to me.
J
People as a race just aren't capable of the type of love we need to maintain our world with some semblance of sanity. That's why the word is hell right now.
I hear what you're saying. You sound like you've been hurt. Sorry about that... Me too.
May you find the answers you seek and may God bring you healing and joy.
May you find love.
I hear what you're saying. You sound like you've been hurt. Sorry about that... Me too.
May you find the answers you seek and may God bring you healing and joy.
May you find love.
Whenever I think of God's love, I always think of 1 Corinthians 13 which is awesome in explaining the different actions love produces.
But when I considered Jesus' words about obedience = love, it challenged me and intrigued me.
In 1 John 5:1-3, it says that the way we know we have love for one another (God's children) is when we love God and obey His commandments.
Let that that sink in for a minute. When we love God and obey His commandments, then we will know we have love for each other.
And that got me to thinking about God's two greatest commands - love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and all your might and love your neighbor as yourself.
There's no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends. And that's what Jesus did, He laid down His love for His friends. And Jesus called us His friends if we do what He commands us to do.
And then my eyes fixed on the cross. There's no greater love than the cross. So how do I define love or what s the essence of God's love?
Jesus obeyed the will of His father - shed His blood for our sins that we would have forgiveness, that our relationship with God would be restored, that we would be saved and live eternally with Him and with one another.
The cross of Jesus is love in action through obedience reaching out to a lost world, His hand stretching towards ours that draws each and every one of us up out of the miry pit of sin's iniquity, inviting us to be crucified with Christ, baptized in His death and raised to new life in Him. Glory Hallelujah - Jesus set us free and filled us with His love!
John 14:15
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
John 14:21-24
He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
John 15:9-14
Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.
1 John 5:1-3
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
2John 1:6
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
But when I considered Jesus' words about obedience = love, it challenged me and intrigued me.
In 1 John 5:1-3, it says that the way we know we have love for one another (God's children) is when we love God and obey His commandments.
Let that that sink in for a minute. When we love God and obey His commandments, then we will know we have love for each other.
And that got me to thinking about God's two greatest commands - love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and all your might and love your neighbor as yourself.
There's no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends. And that's what Jesus did, He laid down His love for His friends. And Jesus called us His friends if we do what He commands us to do.
And then my eyes fixed on the cross. There's no greater love than the cross. So how do I define love or what s the essence of God's love?
Jesus obeyed the will of His father - shed His blood for our sins that we would have forgiveness, that our relationship with God would be restored, that we would be saved and live eternally with Him and with one another.
The cross of Jesus is love in action through obedience reaching out to a lost world, His hand stretching towards ours that draws each and every one of us up out of the miry pit of sin's iniquity, inviting us to be crucified with Christ, baptized in His death and raised to new life in Him. Glory Hallelujah - Jesus set us free and filled us with His love!
John 14:15
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
John 14:21-24
He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
John 15:9-14
Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.
1 John 5:1-3
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome.
2John 1:6
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.