Just What is LOVE? :HeartThrob:
So many confuse love with lust or a jealous desire, longing, wanting for love. Love is more than a superficial feeling, more than a prize.
Love is a State of Being, but what state is that?
Jesus spoke of length on love, in fact he consolidated the entire OT Ten Commandments with just Two.
Mat 22:36 Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt LOVE thy neighbour as thyself.
Many read these preceding words and miss the obvious. In fact many will dismiss them saying: I already love God and my neighbor. Sadly, many don't love themselves.
But let's look closely at vs 37. We are instructed to Love God with ALL our heart, soul and mind. What is left to not Love God with? I say NOTHING. What is left?
We are to LOVE God with ALL that we ARE. Take note of this as it is the key to understanding LOVE.
Now vs 39. We are now instructed to LOVE our neighbor (Read Everyone) as ourselves.
We have a complete circular reference here.
1. If we can't love ourselves we cannot love our neighbors.
2. If we can't love love our neighbor, it is impossible to Love God.
3. If we can't love God, how can we truly love ourselves?
As much as we love anyone of these three is as much as we MUST love the other two. If we don't love someone we deem as evil or a loser, in that exact same way we love God and of course ourselves.
Jesus spoke of this too:
Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Oh my Gosh, we are to LOVE our enemies, bless and do good things for them. We are to PRAY for them as well. No mention of ignoring, walking by or judging. Nothing but LOVE.
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Now here it is, the ultimatum. If we refuse to LOVE such as these, there is NO REWARD. No reward because as we learned earlier, if we do not love such as these, we are not Loving God.
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Now here it is, our Love MUST be perfect just as our Father is Perfect.
Which of course means God loves our (His) enemies with a perfect Love.
So what is Love?
1Cr 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
1Cr 13:5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
1Cr 13:6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
1Cr 13:7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1Cr 13:8 Love never fails. ......
1Cr 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
So as stated at the beginning, Love is indeed a State of Being.
We cannot LOVE with all our heart, soul and mind unless we are: patient, kind, charitable, humble, honorable and never gives up, etc.
This is indeed our benchmark and now we can fully understand the following.
1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
It is my belief that LOVE Trumps everything. If anything held in belief is not covered by LOVE then it is simply an untruth and is not of God.
Love is the Greatest Gift. Love is God.
Much Love, Julie
Scott Peck, in his book The Road Less Traveled, defined love as - taking action to help another person to grow spiritually. Maybe. But somehow, I think there is just more to it than that. Peck said that love was not a feeling, but I know there are often feelings involved, depending on what kind of love is involved. After all, there are several different kinds of love: agape (God's), romantic (our mates), brotherly (our friends and family), strong preferences (e.g. "I love pizza"), etc. Of course your post here is talking about agape love. I guess Peck was right at least in part, but I would more precisely define agape love as - taking action to help another person feel loved and to help them with whatever they need, especially when it involves helping them to find Truth! (whether or not there are any good feelings in it for us) - which is to help them grow spiritually!
I know what Scott Peck was meaning, "agape" love is more than a feeling, but as you correctly state there are feelings involved. Speaking of my own experience, having discovered that my only requirement on this Earth is to Love. I felt such an overwhelming sense of peace and well being. I was always a person that had to know what was happening, having to have about 3 answers for everything, always fearing the worst. I cannot even try to describe what it felt having all that wash away.
This is not to say that I was perfect, far from it, but I soon learned that Love is the answer to everything. You mention helping another person to feel loved and appreciated, helping them when ever needed. Leading by example, with a warm genuine smile.
I am going to go out on a limb here, but I strongly believe that true love connects spirit to spirit regardless of the dstance. I truly believe doing whatever with and for love is far more valuable than anything that can come out of my mouth. That is not to say that I will not speak when the opportunity arises.
In my opinion, the problem with soceity today is noting more than a lack of Love. If everyone loved everyone else as much as they loved themselves and God, could there be any crime?
Thanks, Julie :HeartThrob:
IMO, Love is a commitment and an action. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." In order for me to love I must be committed to love my fellow man and God. It can't depend on situation or feeling. Anytime Paul spoke of love, I believe he spoke about acts of. Jesus specifically used the acts of love as the determining factor in knowing him...away from me I never knew you. Knowing Christ is acting in love towards others not saying a specific prayer when we were 7.
As for the circular love Julie spoke about...here is my 2 cents. In the circles I run in we have a motto, and I have always disliked it. "Fake it til you make it." In other words DO, the right thing and the heart will follow. I certainly haven't always agreed with this. I'm a firm believer that in order to change actions consistently you must change a mans heart. But, there is something to be said about committing to acts of service towards other and the healing power to change love for ourselves.
Quote from: JulieTang84 on July 21, 2013, 05:56:55 AM
In my opinion, the problem with soceity today is noting more than a lack of Love. If everyone loved everyone else as much as they loved themselves and God, could there be any crime?
Thanks, Julie :HeartThrob:
I agree that the problem with society is that they lack love - the love of God. But they do have a different kind of love. The kind I called "I-love-pizza" love. There is nothing wrong with this kind of love in itself - but not too much of a good thing! (Technically this is not really love - but humor me here). It is a self-love. A love for gratifying the self and it's desires. This kind of love becomes wrong when it becomes an idol to us. We can become slaves to it, and it will master us. We will become idolators if we live by this type of "love." That's what is wrong with the world.
Quote from: shawn on July 21, 2013, 05:10:20 PM
IMO, Love is a commitment and an action. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." In order for me to love I must be committed to love my fellow man and God. It can't depend on situation or feeling. Anytime Paul spoke of love, I believe he spoke about acts of. Jesus specifically used the acts of love as the determining factor in knowing him...away from me I never knew you. Knowing Christ is acting in love towards others not saying a specific prayer when we were 7.
:thumbsup:
Quote from: shawn on July 21, 2013, 05:10:20 PM
IMO, Love is a commitment and an action.
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
To paraphrase: Love without action is dead.
WW :thumbsup:
:thumbsup:
Quote from: JulieTang84 on July 20, 2013, 07:33:02 PM
Just What is LOVE? :HeartThrob:
So many confuse love with lust or a jealous desire, longing, wanting for love. Love is more than a superficial feeling, more than a prize.
Love is a State of Being, but what state is that?
Jesus spoke of length on love, in fact he consolidated the entire OT Ten Commandments with just Two.
Mat 22:36 Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law?
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt LOVE the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt LOVE thy neighbour as thyself.
Many read these preceding words and miss the obvious. In fact many will dismiss them saying: I already love God and my neighbor. Sadly, many don't love themselves.
But let's look closely at vs 37. We are instructed to Love God with ALL our heart, soul and mind. What is left to not Love God with? I say NOTHING. What is left?
We are to LOVE God with ALL that we ARE. Take note of this as it is the key to understanding LOVE.
Now vs 39. We are now instructed to LOVE our neighbor (Read Everyone) as ourselves.
We have a complete circular reference here.
1. If we can't love ourselves we cannot love our neighbors.
2. If we can't love love our neighbor, it is impossible to Love God.
3. If we can't love God, how can we truly love ourselves?
As much as we love anyone of these three is as much as we MUST love the other two. If we don't love someone we deem as evil or a loser, in that exact same way we love God and of course ourselves.
Jesus spoke of this too:
Mat 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Oh my Gosh, we are to LOVE our enemies, bless and do good things for them. We are to PRAY for them as well. No mention of ignoring, walking by or judging. Nothing but LOVE.
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
Now here it is, the ultimatum. If we refuse to LOVE such as these, there is NO REWARD. No reward because as we learned earlier, if we do not love such as these, we are not Loving God.
Mat 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
Now here it is, our Love MUST be perfect just as our Father is Perfect.
Which of course means God loves our (His) enemies with a perfect Love.
So what is Love?
1Cr 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
1Cr 13:5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
1Cr 13:6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
1Cr 13:7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
1Cr 13:8 Love never fails. ......
1Cr 13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
So as stated at the beginning, Love is indeed a State of Being.
We cannot LOVE with all our heart, soul and mind unless we are: patient, kind, charitable, humble, honorable and never gives up, etc.
This is indeed our benchmark and now we can fully understand the following.
1Jo 4:18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
It is my belief that LOVE Trumps everything. If anything held in belief is not covered by LOVE then it is simply an untruth and is not of God.
Love is the Greatest Gift. Love is God.
Much Love, Julie
... And still I am showing you a path, suited to transcendence.
Chapter 13
1 If I should be speaking in the languages of men and of the messengers, yet should have no love, I have become resounding copper or a clanging cymbal.
2 And if I should have prophecy and should be perceiving all secrets and all knowledge, and if I should have all faith, so as to transport mountains, yet have no love, I am nothing.
3 And if ever I should be morselling out all my possessions, and if I should be giving up my body, that I should be boasting, yet may have no love, in nothing do I benefit.
4 Love is patient, is kind. Love is not jealous. Love is not bragging, is not puffed up,
5 is not indecent, is not self-seeking, is not incensed, is not taking account of evil,
6 is not rejoicing in injustice, yet is rejoicing together with the truth,
7 is forgoing all, is believing all, is expecting all, is enduring all.
8 Love is never lapsing: yet, whether prophecies, they will be discarded, or languages, they will cease, or knowledge, it will be discarded.
9 For out of an instalment are we knowing, and out of an instalment are we prophesying.
10 Now whenever maturity may be coming, that which is out of an instalment shall be discarded.
11 When I was a minor, I spoke as a minor, I was disposed as a minor, I took account of things as a minor. Yet when I have become a man, I have discarded that which is a minor's.
12 For at present we are observing by means of a mirror, in an enigma, yet then, face to face. At present I know out of an instalment, yet then I shall recognize according as I am recognized also.
13 Yet now are remaining faith, expectation, love -- these three. Yet the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13)
God is love (1 John 4:8,16), and eventually all will be filled with love when God is all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28).
For the entire law is fulfilled in one word, in this: "You shall love your associate as yourself." (Galatians 5:14)
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