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Wednesday, October 15, 2014

What is Love?





Recently I had the opportunity to really study the meaning and concept of the word love. So much of our lives are centered around and/or searching for love. We live in a culture today in which "love" is mainly an emotion or a feeling. "Falling in love" is not seen as a choice you make, but as something that happens to you. Like something which comes and goes as it pleases. 

But love like that, simply emotion, is not what the Bible says love is. There are three Greek words for love used in Scripture and all of them are less emotion and more choice - a way of life rather than a feeling one gets. Which is an especially important point when it comes to marriage. One of the most important parts of a marriage are the vows and promises. But promises cannot be made about feelings; feelings come and go, honestly, there are days when I may not be as emotionally attached to my wife because I am more focused on other things. No, nothing is wrong with our marriage. What I am trying to say is that love in the Bible, love in marriage, love in relationships, is based on actions. The choice to care for and be a blessing to each other even when we don't "feel" like it. Actions are things we can make promises about. (And so does God.) It may not always be what we want or expect, but that is our fault, not God's.

God built within each of us a natural tendency to love - and His desire is for us to show love to each other. In John 13:34-35 (NIV) Jesus flat out says it: "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." Wow, read that again. According to Jesus (who I like to try to listen to) the defining characteristic of His followers is how much we love. Not how often we go to church, or if we memorize Scripture (which are important, no doubt) but the primary desire of Jesus is that we love one another. There are times I have been struggling with this lately. I admit it, I get caught up in all the things I need to do for Sundays to go well. I let feelings and emotions get the best of me - and as a result, I am not acting out of love. I'm not saying I don't love, I am just saying that other things get the best of me and other things become my goal over love. And for those of you on the wrong end of that I apologize and hope you can forgive me.

I bring this up because right now we are starting a new series: "The Art of War" about Spiritual Warfare. There is no denying that Satan is attacking us constantly. This is a good thing - Satan wouldn't care if we were on the wrong track. But the best defense is a good offense, and in the case of Spiritual Warfare, a good offense is acting in love. This is how we get closer to God. This is how we understand Him best. 1 John 4:7-11 says "
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us." Think about that the next time you are upset at or annoyed with one of those people Jesus died for. I'm not saying don't get angry; Jesus got angry. What I am saying is, ask yourself where your actions are coming from. If the answer is anything other than a place of love, you might want to think about that some more. Choose love. Make it your way of life. Let people see that you are a follower of Christ by how much you love.

Trying to Follow,
Mark

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