There has been many great and interesting conversations that have come up recently in my life that the only response that is necessary is to write about this topic; yes, the four letter word topic. With the culture we live in that tends to distort meanings of words and change how we interpret certain issues, it has now even become more hard to know truly what this four-letter word (love) is. As humans, we use love loosely to food, toward other people, to even our expression to God for those of us who are proclaimed Christians.
I have had insightful conversations with one of my good friends and we have been able to even bring up multiple times as to what it really means to love in God’s eyes. Now this can be probably the hardest thing for many of us to cope with because if we really take time to evaluate we know we are far off to what we really should be aiming toward according to Yahweh’s standards. I know I am still short to what He expects out of us and that really convicts me more than anything. I know my desire is to love as much as God wants me to love and I desire to give love among others. There are plenty of times though when the flesh comes in and takes force in hoping I fail to succeed in God’s commands of loving Him with my everything and loving others as myself (Matthew 22:37-40). We must keep in mind though that even though the flesh is there to make us fall short to our goal, we have His Spirit who has given us victory over these shortcomings.
Since I have given you a brief intro into what I am going to be writing about, it is now, I believe, time to delve deep into the study of love and what it means to God. We all need to remind ourselves as to the actions that follow along with love that is Christ honoring. We will start by looking at the most famous part in Scripture: 1 Corinthians 13.
Many of us are familiar with this passage and probably quote it plenty of times for many events such as weddings, valentines day, or any event that encompasses about relationships with others. I can argue that we overuse it and put it in the wrong context plenty of times as well that we begin to lose sight on what it really means. When the first part of it is read, we come to understand that “Love is patient.” Now what can this possibly mean? I believe it means so much more than what many people are even willing to submit to. The definition that we have for patient is this: able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or anxious. How does that sound? Accept and tolerate delays. Delays in what? It could be anything for all we know. I mean, Christ was patient with the people at his time that nailed Him to a cross. Did you also recognize the word suffering and problems in that definition as well. That completely goes against our normal instinct as humans. We always want to retaliate and hope for the best in that
Now we go into about love being kind. We all know that is quite easy to understand. But living that out is easier said than done. But to respond to people in just kindness is so easy for someone like me to really take for granted. It is easy being kind to those who are kind to you and are your close friends. But what about our enemies? Are we the same to them as we are to closer acquaintances? If we can really be honest, we know we are not. This is a problem. God wants us to even love those people. He even commands us to love our enemies. Yes, love them. So the next time you come around someone involved with ISIS (I do not really wish this upon anyone. This is just for example.), could you authentically give them that love that even God gave to you as a believer? I can admit that is the hardest thing for me to grasp. To even go beyond to the philosophy that Jesus presented love as giving your enemy a drink when he asks for it is quite absurd to us if we are truly honest.
The third point from that passage that sticks the most that is probably quite forgotten and not really paid much attention to is how love “rejoices in the truth.” I can admit when I first read this passage for the first time, this never crossed my mind to rejoice in the truth. For fellow Christians we can really live this out by living out truth. Living out truth can have many factors. One of them being that we should be open to share among our fellow believers God’s truth which we find in His Word and whatever else that God continues to teach us in accordance to what also scripture teaches us.
Another deeper perspective in rejoicing in the truth is how we do rejoice in God.If God is Love, then He is basically declaring Himself as truth in this passage that Paul is presenting here. So what does this mean for us all. If you are married, you basically signed a covenant with one another and your goal as spouses should be to help one another grow closer to Christ (the Truth). If you are single, you still have somewhat a same mission. It is just in a different context and with different people. Your goal will be to help others live out the Truth instead of having such a stronger focus on a spouse and your family if you are not married. Each of us have a role in sharing truth to others. It can be really difficult with an imperfect world, but it sure is not impossible when our God is in the mix and is involved in all of our endeavors.
After seeing these three main crucial points I have presented, all of this goes straight to the climax of this topic. We see many times in scripture and where Paul presents that Love never fails. It is eternal and if God is love, then we are not just saying love never fails, but that God never fails. That is really encouraging for me to know and not have to question. If we live out love, we are living out the image of God. He continues to be a stronghold of our faith and the cornerstone of our faith is held in Christ which is love.
Well, now that this topic is coming to a close, I would surely like reviews on this and maybe even more thoughts of wisdom you think is worth sharing on this. Either comment on this blog or even on any of the social media sites I post this up on. Enjoy delving into a “new perspective” on love and may you ever grow in Christ whoever reads this and takes it to heart.
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