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Definition of Love
The definition of love is found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and has sixteen different parts. The list says that love; suffereth long, is kind, envieth not, vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, rejoiceth in the truth, beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, and never faileth. When The Lord says that love suffereth long, takes on two meanings. The first meaning is that you are able to suffer the slings and arrows that the world will throw at you for your love of God and His Ways through your reliance on Him for patience. The second, is the ability to forgive those who do wrong against you and still deal with them in a respectful and loving manner. Although you may have to forgive a person over and over again for the same wrong doing, that does not mean you are to allow yourself to be used. The person should show sorrow for the wrong doings that they have done against you. Another attribute of love is kindness. This kindness includes you taking into consideration how a person feels about a certain subject and acting accordingly. When you are kind you do not call people names, use sarcasm towards them, or put them down for how they are {you are to still tell someone when they are doing wrong, but you don't put them down for it}. You are able to deal with a person in a respectful manner, even while in disagreement. Love envieth not, but is instead happy for. You do not envy a person their abilities. Whether that be drawing, singing, knowledge, dancing, anything that God has gifted them with, you are not envious of. Instead you are happy that they were gifted with it and encourage use of the gift to bring glory to God. You are not to envy what a person has. Be happy that God has blessed them with whatever it is that He gave them, for is shows that God blesses His people. Love vaunteth not itself, meaning you do not push yourself forward on the other person. There is a focus on what God wants for the person instead of what you want for them. You do not try to get them to do something they consider wrong, or do not want to do, within reason. For example, a child should be made to clean his room, but you should not make someone go to the store with you if they don't want to. In all things going on in that persons life you want Gods will to be done and want for the person to have a closer more intimate walk with The Lord. Having said that, a person must realize that at times, it takes leaving that person alone for God to do His work. Love is not puffed up, meaning you are not proud but humble. You are willing to realize when you have done wrong and apologize when necessary. Realize that you are not perfect and only through The Lord Jesus are you forgiven of your sins and through Him are you able to do what you do and have what you have. Love doth not behave itself unseemly, but is mannerly. Instead you wish to behave in the proper manner, everything from eating to dealing with a person and God. Your actions towards a person are considerate and polite, you are able to put others before yourself, to a point. For example, if someone dislikes a word or action, then around them you do not do it, but you do not stop practicing your beliefs just to be around a person. When you love you seeketh not your own, you are not self centered. You want what God wants in all situations. You take what He believes as correct to be correct and what He believes as wrong to be wrong. You do this even if what God wants is not pleasing to you or something that is not what you would want to do. Love is not easily provoked, but is instead has patience. You are patient concerning people, and patient for Gods timing in your life. When you love, you thinketh no evil. This means that you do not automatically assume someone is doing something evil. You instead ask questions or wait to see what is really going on. It also means that you do not think in an evil manner toward another person. For example, you do not go around wishing someone was dead or that something bad would happen to the person, but instead forgive them and allow God to work with the person. If you love, you rejoiceth not in iniquity. You aren't happy when bad things happen to people, whether you like them or not. Instead, you hope that unfortunate incident does not happen again, that the person learn from their mistakes. You pray for them during their time of hardship, that God would help them to get back on His track or protect them and be with them, whichever the case calls for. Rejoicing not in iniquity also includes no support for sin. When you sin, you do not love it or stay in it, but instead come out of it and with all of your might, do not do the sin again. You also do not support a sin in any other persons life or in the laws where you live. Love rejoiceth in the truth, you are happy in The Lords truth and to know the truth. You are happy to do what God wants you to, it is not a burden or a chore, but something you wish to do with all your heart. You are happy when a person is truthful with you and always want truth from whomever it is you are dealing with. Love also beareth all things. We bear the ridicule, trials and tribulations of being Christian in a world who hates and considers extreme, The Lord and all His ways. We bear the ridicule, the trials and tribulations, happily with a loving heart, knowing that because we are God's children what happened to Him will happen to us. When you love, you believeth all things. You have the belief that all things are possible through God who loves us. This includes changes in a person, the healing of a person, the safety of a person, the fulfilling of scripture, belief in scripture, the belief that God is always with you to strengthen and comfort you. Hope is another attribute of love, for love hopeth all things. Love hopes for all people to come to the truth of The Bible, be saved, and to live a good and Godly life. Hope alleviates fears and worries and knows that The Lord has all things under control. Love also endureth all things. Through your reliance and trust in The Lord you are able to endure the hardships of the world. Whatever comes your way, you are able to endure it, and deal with it in a loving respectful manner. The last attribute, but not the least, of love is that it never faileth. Only God can never fail. We will at times fail in doing one or all of these things. The point is, we get up everyday and endeavour with all our strength to love with these attributes, those around us and The Lord.How to Love
The Bible is clear that action is the way we are to love both people and God. The first Biblical support for the idea that action is the way we are to love is in 1 John 3:18, which says, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth." This scripture is blatant that action is how we are to love people and God. The Bible also backs this up in Ezekiel 33:31 when it says, "And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and they sit before thee as my people, and they hear thy words, but they will not do them: for with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness", meaning that it doesn't matter what you say, but the action that is taken that matters to God and people. How you present yourself, what you support, what you don't support, all of your actions is how we are to love a person and God. The way a Christian should love is different from the way the World loves {Matthew 5:46}. The actions that a Christian uses to show love to people is through rebuking, loving as Christ loves, and loving without dissimulation. Rebuking is defined as a reprimand or telling someone when they do wrong. Proverbs 27:5 says, "Open rebuke is better than secret love". According to this scripture it is better to reprimand someone than it is to not say anything at all or supporting them in their wrong doing. Rebuking ties in with loving as Christ loves as He says in Revelations , "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent." {WOC 3:19}. When you rebuke someone you are showing that you do not want them to wrong, but instead believe that they should do what is correct and open themselves up for the blessings of The Lord. Loving as Christ loves is also the way a Christian is to love. In John 13:34 Christ says, "A new commandment that I give you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." {WOC}. Christ rebukes those he loves {Revelations 3:19 WOC}, He loves with 1 Corinthians love always. When He says "As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love" {John 15:9 WOC}, He is talking about rebuking, 1 Corinthians love, and loving without dissimulation. Dissimulation in Romans 12:9 and 10 which says, "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;" means hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is the practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that you don't actually believe in. In otherwords pretending to love, don't pretend to love people, but truly love them. To show God and others, that we love Him we are to obey all of his commandments. John 14:15, 21, and 23 all cover obeying His commandments. In verse 23 Christ says, "... If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him" {John 14:23 WOC}. In verse 21 Christ states: "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him" {John 14:21 WOC}. Both of these scriptures show that it is not only the very defined commandments that are to be followed, but The Word {a.k.a. Bible} also. By doing this, we are able to show love to our Holy Lord in the most effective way and open ourselves up for His blessings and protection. The Bible has a special commandment of love for husbands towards wives. Ephesians 5:25, 28 and 33 lists the way a husband is to love his wife. Verses 28 and 33 go hand in hand and say: "So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself." and "Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself, and the wife see that she reverence her husband." Husbands are not only to love their wives as themselves but also as Christ loves the chruch as stated in verse 25, "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; ". A very good example of a husbands love for his wife would be the fourteen years of slavery that Jacob served for Rachel. Jacob did all that Laban asked of him, even after Laban decieved Jacob and married Jacob to his older daughter, Leah, first {Genesis 29:18-20}. God himself uses action to show His love for us in Christs' death on the cross for our salvation from sin. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." As you can see, actions are what The Bible says will show love for people and God.Who and What to Love
It is clear that Christians are to love all people and God. All people is divided up into three seperate catagories that cover all the types of people that you will meet or come across in your life. Those three categories consist of your neighbor, the stranger and your enemies. A neighbor is defined as a person that is close to you, not only in relationship type, but also means the person standing next to you, the person behind you in line, the person at the register, your friend, your family, and co-workers. The commandment Christians have concerning these people and love is found in Leviticus which says, "Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord." {19:18}. Christ in Matthew 19:19, 22:39 and Mark 12:31, also commands that we are love our neighbors as ourselves. The stranger is also to be loved. A stranger is someone you don't usually see in an average day or someone who just entered your life. Deuteronomy says, "Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt." {10:19}. Also in Leviticus it says, "But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God."{19:34}. These verses show that it is good to treat the stranger as you would want to be treated, for at some time in your life you will be the stranger. The hardest of these three types of people for a person to love is their enemy. An enemy is someone that has hatred towards you, intends on hurting you, and/or opposes you in something that you are doing. In the book of Matthew Christ says, "But I say unto, 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;" {5:44 WOC}. Any and all people who treat you badly, you are to bless, pray for, and are to "do good to them which hate you," {Luke 6:27 WOC}. Although you are to love your enemies, it does not mean that you are to let them walk all over you. Always protect yourself, others, and God when the time comes. The easiest person to love is God and by loving God you are following the first commandment. The book of Mark says, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment." {12:30 WOC}. In all things we do we are to show our love of God, keep The Lord and His precepts in our mind, in our heart and to do them with our strength. By loving God you allow Him to bless and protect you, as said in Psalms 31:23, "O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer." Loving God ties into loving the ideas and precepts of God. There are three that are specifically mentioned in The Bible, good, mercy, and truth. Amos 5:15 says, "Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph". The good that Christians are to love is the laws and ideas of God. We are to love the path that He has for us, to take what He believes to be right as good, and to want to fellowship with God through prayer and reading The Bible. We are also to love truth and mercy. Zechariah 8:17 says, "And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate, saith the Lord." In Micah 6:8 it says, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" Mercy and truth are both considered good by The Lord, by doing these things and following all of his precepts, including loving all people, then we open our lives for his blessings and protection.Signifigance of Loving God and His ways
When we love God and love all of His Ways we open ourselves up to His mercy and blessings. Deuteronomy says, "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;" {7:9} and also in 5:10 "And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments". We are to keep all commandments which He has laid out for us in The Bible, this enables Him to continue "shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love" Him {Exodus 20:6}. Part of that mercy is also protection. Psalms 145:20 says, "The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy." Loving Him and His ways keeps you under His protection and mercy. Another part of loving God and all of His ways is His ability to bless you. In Deuteronomy it says, "For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him; Then will the Lord drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves." {22-23). Initially this verse is talking about the giving of nations to the Jews, but it is also a very good example of how He can bless you in your life, so long as you obey all of His precepts. Another very good example of blessings for love is found again in Deuteronomy 19:9, "If thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the Lord thy God and to walk ever in his ways; then shalt thou add three cities more for thee, beside these three:". In this example not only will you have what you need {Deuteronomy 11:14}, but there will also be increase, in this case, the Jews were given three more cities for their love and devotion to The Lord and His precepts. The closer you follow Him and show Him your love through your actions the more you will prosper as clearly stated in Proverbs, "That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures." {8:21}. Finally Psalms 91:14 says, "Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name." This is what The Lord says to all of us, because we love Him and His ways, we will be given mercy, protection, increase and blessings.Love shows we are of God
As in all things, Christians are to be different, the way that we love will be different and show us to be of God . When we love differently, God can shine through us and that love shows we are of God. Luke says, "For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them." {6:32 WOC}. Also in Matthew, "For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?" {5:46 WOC}. If we only love those who love us, then we are like everyone else. Instead we should love as described in the previous sections, loving in this manner will show us to be of God. Just as obeying all commandments is how we are to love God, loving all commandments also shows us to be of God. In John 14:31 it says, "But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence." {WOC}. Also in 1 John, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."{2:15} and "But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so walk, even as he walked." {2:5-6}.Love is given to us by The Holy Ghost, which is The Lord dwelling in us. In Romans it states, "And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." {5:5}. This is also supported by Galatians and 2 Timothy. Galations says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith," {5:22}. 2 Timothy states, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love, and of a sound mind." {1:7}. As the children of God we are to be loving. 1 Timothy 6:11 says, "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righeousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.", because God is love {John 4:7-8}, when we are loving we show ourselves to be of God.Made for Love, Proof of Love, and is it Easy to Love?
God created us for love; love to each other and towards Him. 1 Thessalonians says, "And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:" {3:12}, this is the only place that I have found it plainly stated. There are two examples of people wanting love or wanting to stay where there is love in The Bible. The first is in Genesis , "And Leah conceived, and bare a son, and she called his name Reuben: for she said, Surely the Lord hath looked upon my affliction; now therefore my husband will love me." {29:32}. Leah wanted the love of her husband so much that she hoped that a child would soften his heart towards her. The second example is in Exodus and is of a servant, "And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free:" {21:5}. He loved his wife, master, and children and was loved so much in return that he was willing to be a slave for the rest of his life. In life there are documented cases of people going to great extremes to either feel love or to get people around them to show love. Everything from complete servitude/reliance on other people, to physically hurting themselves. The most important thing is to dwell in Gods love, there a person can and will always feel the love we are created for. When we rely on God for everything, He will and does provide us with not only the human companionship that we need, but all other needs as well. The proof that a person loves God can be seen two ways. One is there vocal support of The Lord and the second is how closely the person obeys all His commandments. There are two verses in Psalms that back up the idea of vocal support of The Lord showing love. The first verse says, "Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified." {Psalms 40:16} and the second, "Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say coninually, Let God be magnified." {Psalms 70:4}. Both of these verses clearly say that we are to rejoice and magnify Him, in otherwords; with a loud voice praise and thank Him for what He does throughout life. A Christian also shows love of God through obeying all of his commandments. There are three verses in the book of John that support this thought. The first two are, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." {14:15 WOC} and, "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him." {14:21 WOC}. When you love The Lord, He comes and dwells with you, "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." {John 14:23 WOC}. All of The Lords commandments are listed in The Bible, anyone that has The Bible and follows it, it is that person that loves Him. Loving God and His way of doing things is not going to be easy. It is not easy because when you love God, you are different from the world and do not believe or support the same things that the world does. The scriptural support for this is in Psalms, John and 1 John. In John, Christ says, "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, therfore the world hateth you." {15:19 WOC}. 1 John echoes this idea when it says, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." {3:1}. Psalms states, "For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer. And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love." {109:4-5}. In all three of these verses it shows that the world will hate, do evil towards, be enemy of and shun you because of your love for God and His ways.Some Extras
Four different types of Love as found in The New Open Bible, Study Edition 1990 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Page 1300:
Physical Love {eros}: Used to identify paramours or lovers. The valid place in
Christian thinking for this love of physical attraction is between married couples {cf. Song of
Solomon}
Paramour = someone who in an adulterous relationship
Lover = one
who feels sexual love towards another.
Affectionate Love {philia}: Warmhearted, spontaneous affection, liking, attractive appeal, and friendship. Fortunately for us, God never commands us to have this kind of love for everyone, because our reactions to different types of people are often beyond our control. However, if we do obey the command to choose to love {agape} we often end up liking and becoming font of people who originally "turned us off."
Love of Choice {agape}: Used for love from man to God, God to man, and between people. It is the love God commands, the love of choice. Even if someone does not appeal to us we can still show agape to that person--accept him, treat him right, and do all we can to build up that person in the faith {if a believer} or to win him to the faith.
Charles Stanley has a good message on the
difference between lust and love
He also covers love in a deeper manner on this page{f
rom February 9, 2004 to February 13, 2004}. He may be able to help you better understand
what I have written.
I hope this paper didn't put you to sleep, was enjoyable, and enlightening, if you have any questions then please contact me!
Be Blessed! =^_^=