love the one you're with
john 13:34 says, "a new commandment i give unto you that you love one another, even as i have loved you, that you love one another" (KJV). in the world today, the word love is used in so many different arenas: i love my wife, i love my son, i love football, i love pizza. love in the english language has such a broad meaning, which makes it very difficult to define. it is much easier to describe what love does than what love is. we often hear that love sees no wrong, and love conquers all. the scriptures have a more direct description: love is patient, love is kind, it does not seek its own prosperity, is not provoked, does not take into account wrongs suffered. love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. love never fails. a true, biblical love will produce these characteristics in our lives. but it doesn't end there.
the verse goes on. when Jesus uses the phrase "even as i have loved you," He refers to how God has loved us. the next logical question is, how has God loved us? john 3:16 addresses that issue: "for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son..." His love for us is a sacrificial love, and that is the love we need to have for one another. a love that is not self-seeking. a love that is not afraid to reach out and touch someone. a love that gives. a love that makes a difference in someone's life. because if our love has changed one life, it has changed the world.
posted by rob @ 12:13 PM
8 comments
8 Comments:
Glad your back! What you posted over at my place made me think too. Today I took the day off from work to specifically spend time Seeking Him and renewing my commitment to put Him First. I am taking a break and reading a few inspirational blogs...I'm glad you had a new post :)
you couldn't have picked a better day to speak of love. it has been deeply on my mind as well.through my soul searching i find that more often than not my love is unfortunatly based on some kind of reciprication. sometimes given with hopeful anticipation, sometimes withheld out of fear of rejection. along with that come by products such as selfishness and guilt. but Gods gift of love is the greatest gift becauses it brings such a stir of emotions and physical reactions, a world wind that we can use to create or destroy. if only we could give our love as purely and freely as our father without expection we could free ourselves from these burdens and regrets that are self imposed and experience gift he has blessed with.
thanks for your insite and great example!
Thanks Rob. I appreciate the line, "...if our love has changed one life, it has changed the world." The word Love has become so bland today because of all the different ways we use it, as you mentioned in your post. But I find it interesting that Jesus said the greatest commandment was LOVE God. And the second was LOVE your neighbor. That's the only way the world we will know we are His - by our LOVE.
His peace be on you.
i am truly humbled by your visits, and even moreso by your comments. thanks for keeping it real...
Hey rob :)
thanks for adding me to your e-friends list.. :)
very comforting post....
Hey chief. Thanks for the encouraging post. God's Big 2 are Love Him and Love Others, and yeah, the world was changed by one man's love! Abide in him who is love and you will bear love.
Rob,
No hatred intented. I just don't understand how so many people can still believe in fairy tales, which is how I see Christianity after being raised in it all my life as a Pastor's son.
In fact, in this post on my blog I ask several questions that need some serious answers. I doubt you can come up with any but would love to hear what you have to say.
hi donny, thanks for visiting the site, you're an eloquent guy! you seem like you'd be fun to sit down over coffee and chat with. but alas, i'm on the east coast. i read a few of your posts, so forgive me if my comments below may span multiple posts...
to be perfectly honest, i tend to think that many people, especially those steeped in the externals of a religion, tend to deal mainly in trivia of facts and beliefs and doctrines, of what's right and wrong according to their code of laws, when that's not the heart of God at all. and religious traditionalists everywhere shudder--who can know the heart of God, right? it's not that those things aren't an important part of our faith, but i think we sometimes bog ourselves down with the mundane frivolities of a tradition we've created, rather than enjoy intimacy with this loving God.
anyway, you'll probably think this is a cop-out regarding your questions, but i think there are just things we don't understand. that as we walk this road called life, that we're all just trying to figure things out as we go, that we'll never completely grasp all that is the divine, because He's infinite and we're not. i believe that faith in the Supreme is a gift that is not borne of ourselves. i hope and pray that you receive it, but if you don't share the faith, i doubt that my answers, or any answers will convince you. it's not a mental acquiescence that breeds faith, but life given to our spirit by the Creator of life.
i can see your point that the religious (you mention Christians, specifically, but i'd expand that to include the religious of the holy wars, the inquisition, and jihad, of those who kill in the name of saving lives, of those who condemn behavior rather than love people, etc.) have done more harm than good to the cause. God has called us to two objectives: 1) love God, and 2) to love people. i don't believe that either objective should cause us to war over differing beliefs, or to condemn specific activities, behavior, morals, etc. it is not our job to condemn--Jesus Himself did not come to condemn. if the Author of my faith need not condemn, why should i don the gavel? 'tis a role that does not belong to me. but we were condemned already. remember that one, donny? if only we all would...
anyway, i'll wrap it up here so as not to ramble endlessly... i just thought i'd share. i wish you the best in life, and the answers to all life's questions. God bless...
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