4. What is Love?
Bless you reader!
Continuing on in the ‘Love Chapter’..
“Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant.” 1 Cor. 13:4 NASB
Well then.
Question. Do these verses say “love is mostly kind”, “love is rarely jealous”, “love seldom brags”? Here I must ask you to carefully consider this point. See the layout of the words? Is, is, is. Not, not, not. Look carefully. See any ambiguity? Me neither.
So, here comes one of our first hard fact.
“God is love” (1 John 4:8). Your sweetheart is not love. Your mother is not love. Your children are not love. “God is love.” Can these people show acts of love and kindness? Absolovinglutely, but none are by their very nature love itself. “God is love”, and guess what? We are not God.
viagra delivery Clamping and jelqing potentially cause blood vessel tearing and pain. Description: Super p energy is extremely compelling medication on the off generic viagra without prescription chance that this genuine issue happens, look for prompt restorative help in the event that it happens. hop over to here canada cialis 100mg Such services are dependable and provide their clients uninterrupted services while delivering on time for them. This anti impotence medication discover for more order levitra is easily available on the Internet. God is love. We are not God.
“He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:8
Ok, don’t despair and flip on Oprah. I shall give you some real new age feel-goodiness that is actually biblically sound. When we choose to be patient, and when we trust and believe others, and God, against being jealous we are actually being Godly. Truly Godly. Is it just me or is this is a really amazing thing?
I will be patient because God has been so patient with me all these years. I will not boast over my own ideas and opinions to draw attention to how smart I am. And even if I am smart (the jury on this one is, I surmise MIA/KIA) I did not make me smart. I will give glory to God in this. I pray: “Oh, thank you Lord for making me soooo darn smart!” -Fun Knee! No I pray: “Thank you Lord for giving me a heart for your word and your truth. Thank you for exposing my need for your love and forgiveness so gently and so clearly. You are my only true hope, my only true peace, my only true salvation and I love you in my broken faulty way because you love me so perfectly! There is none like you. You created joy, kindness, mercy, and love. Help me, Lord, to love others like you have loved me!”
And He does.
But I still resist.
So may I ask you?
What is love?
June 18th, 2010 at 11:04 am
You definitely have a rhythm down here.
Of course, I think everyone knows this verse—Like a lot of people, I used it in my wedding fifteen years ago. Ironically, my ex is not patient, sometimes isn’t kind, and was jealous—not of men, but of my time.
June 18th, 2010 at 7:20 pm
Jealousy and arrogance are both just self-hatred projected on others and unrealized. I believe this scripture is a perfect example of how true love, which can only come from God, is not self relational. Which is the exact thing we always try to make it. Instead, love comes from outside ourselves, a gift given to us from God. I think you and I agree that “being in love” is much different, a human, selfish choice. Which is where us females tend to erroneously jump to automatically when we read this passage. But I believe if we choose who we decide to “be in love” with very, very carefully, and find someone who is equally committed to this end, I believe that we can be very blessed in our relationships, if we can model our relational love after God’s example, by trying to love outside ourselves to the benefit of the other through the desciptors in this chapter- patience, kindness, hope, truthfulness, endurance, believing in all things, not being boastful or proud, or rude, or arrogant. Of course we will never fully succeed to this end, because we continuously fail by nature. But call me a silly, female dreamer if you like, I still choose to believe….
June 20th, 2010 at 11:08 pm
Superrr Awesome Blog!!!……
I Love the fact that you explained how Love is not a sweetheart a person, place or thing…
How Love is GOD…and GOD..is the ultimate Love in Action…
Last year I was 6 months away from getting married when I found out my fiance had cheated with a mutual married friend of ours..after our breakup I couldn’t go anywhere in town without seeing the two of them together…. my human nature…was anger..resentment..all the human stuff.. but after seeking the Lord in this situation he led me to 1Corinthians 13..The verse that spoke to me the most at that time was ” Love keeps ( no ) record of wrong done against it “. If I say I Love God and have God living in me…how can I hate my brother or any man who does wrong against me…I began searching the scriptures and found that…I had to not just Forgive them both but completelyyyy keep no record of this wrong..to give it completely to the Lord…. In my flesh their was no way I could do this on my own…it had to be God’s Love in and through me…the more I searched the more I found that ” Love ” according to the World is based on feeling…. a sense… a fleeting emotion that is here today and gone tomorrow. We live in a generation where everything is so easily attainable as well as disposable…you can have pretty much anything you want anytime you want and dispose of it just as easily..no strings attached… God’s Love in comparrison is based on Action…kindness, patience, forgiveness ect….and is an action that comes only from the giver of Love himself.. in this situation I found i had no strength within myself to completely forgive but in time that strength came only from the Lord as he showed me that in my own sin God was able to mercifully forgive me…in turn I was able to completely forgive my ex and his girlfriend and the Lord has miraculously turned that resentment for the both of them into Love….God is crazzzzyy amazing thats all I can say!! and Im really glad u put this up!!! It’s so easy for our human nature to thirst after the wrong kind of Love and find it’s void in the Mirage…..May God bless many lives with your words…:) tams
July 10th, 2010 at 4:18 pm
I have to agree with the comment above about GOD being the ultimate LOVE IN ACTION! God is awesome in so many ways. I can say that I am a STRONG woman today only by God. I am a survivor of molestation at the age of 12, and then being raped in my early 20s. Ladies GOD is awesome! He brought me true freedom and taught me how to love people the way that Jesus loved people. I am very forgiving and I am a very happy woman today! What Satan meant for bad God turned around for the Good, FOR HIS GLORY!!! I can witness and help others that have been thru the same because I know what it feels like to have your heart ripped out, but I also know what it feels like for GOD TO MEND that HEART, to make it WHOLE with NOTHING MISSING!!!! Loving God 1st is the real key to learning love. And I know LOVE is a BIG word it has so many meanings. And like Tams, I go back to the verse keep no record of wrong doings! That is a big one that a lot of people have a hard time with! God has taught me so much over the years and I am so thankful that he made me the woman that I am today. I could not have done it without him. I am COMPLETE with HIM!
Your blogs are AWESOME! You are very instrumental and I just want to say thank you for taking time out of your day to write. It means a lot and I can tell God is definitely using you. Keep up the good work!!!!
February 5th, 2013 at 8:28 am
Enjoying your blog; this is my favorite post thus far! Love it!
I know I am a sinner, and that all talents, abilities, and any goodness in me is put there by God, so I should not boast. Sometimes I am still prideful, associating my strengths with ME and forgetting that I was created by, and belong to Him. How rediculous is pride?! How can I possibly pretend that I have any hand in who I am? (One of the sins I have struggled with and see a lot is women taking great pride in their appearance- flaunting it arrogently in public, as though they can take credit for their hair, their shape, their eyes, or anything whatsoever! Women often pity and even distain their “less attractive” sisters. God created you beautifully, for His pleasure and glory and purpose, not for you! But I digress…)
Ignoring God, pretending to be God, I am a terribly selfish and miserable creature! It is only in my submission to God, and my obediance to Christ, that I can be love. In those moments, when i die to self and channel God to others, there I find true joy. I think its the joy of finally being “on purpose”- doing what God created me to do- to LOVE Him, and to LOVE others. I think the awesome joy that fills me when I am serving in LOVE, is God’s pleasure in my right relationship with Him; the joy is His reward- entering into the pleasure of the Master.
I wish I could say these weren’t “moments”, that instead, I am constantly submited to God. Afterall, He has given us every reason to know that He alone is GOD, and that He is Good. But free will proves me to be a sinner. Thank God, with my sin staring at me in the face, that He is LOVE, that He is Mercy, that He is Forgiveness. That who HE IS inspires me, a sinner, to choose Him again and again. All to the glory of God!