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Thursday, October 31, 2013

Love is not arrogant

Love is not arrogant or love is not proud. One should not show or say or boast of how much they love. For love is an ongoing thing and not only is it on going, the opportunities of showing love are changing... and not only that, that as one grows his love should grow... When I think of arrogant, it makes me think of one thinking that they are better than_____. That their gifts... are better than.... What they do is better than... That no matter what for the most part you cannot compete with them for they are better than and do better than... And eventually this will make them think that the one being loved, shown love... should appreciate them more for showing such great love... We joke about this saying(s), "She is so lucky to have so and so" or "She is so lucky to have me." That just being associated with them, they are blessed... You see if we are only relying on our ability to love we have missed the mark; for we do not know how to truly love. Think about it! We think we know how to love but as time goes on we realize that we know so little... And when we want to truly love more... it somehow get's mixed up... and we find ourselves not doing the actions we want... You see for us to show love... we need God's help. We need Him to show us the way. We need Him guides us so we know how to love, when to love... and we need His strength also; for without Him our love is shaky at best.

Monday, October 21, 2013

Love does not brag

As we continue of what love is we are faced with another, what love in not. Love does not brag(1Corinthians13:4). This is good that we learn what love is not. Just like there are actions that show love; there are actions that do not show love. Some of these actions would surprise us as we look at them. Like the one before us now; love does not brag. Brag, to boast. That is to tell what one has done... Wow, doesn't that hit hard. Love does not boast. So when you do something that demonstrates love... don't brag about it. When you buy your wife a gift just because you love her, don't bring it up later... saying this shows that I love you... That when you start saying that, this demonstrates the love I have for _____. That really is saying that maybe your priority has been amiss. You see love does not need to be defended because it is an ongoing process. Passed deeds that show love, are void if new deeds are not present. Love is a continuing process that involves multiple deeds/things. Love is more than just feelings, it is action based. Action based, that would be actions based. It is not just many actions it is actions that continue in the future, thus being on going. Now that, that is said, those actions being done have to have meaning. Not just financial meaning, but meaning that is personal. Maybe actions that fit needs and actions that makes one feel special. Actions that are personal to the individual... Sometimes actions just because it seems nice.... If you find that you are bringing up past actions of love... to justify your love... maybe you need to take a hard look at yourself and ask have I been demonstrating love enough? Now if you are married, maybe we all need to ask that question more frequently. Did I say maybe? No we need to ask that question frequently! An to act; so many times I find myself wanting to do... but then I get tired... and .... and ... So let us do the actions that demonstrate love to our spouses, to our children and to the brethren...

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Love does not ------ envy

We have been talking about what love is, but our next characteristic would be of what love is not. Love is not jealous. Jealous, hostile to a rival or one having an advantage. Another word used would be envy; this word seems to work a little better for us in our era. Envy, painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another with the desire to possess the same advantage, or an object of envious notice or feeling, also sometimes in its meaning is malice. Most people when we think of envy we associated with possessions. Envious of some ones car or the house they have... it is a feeling. Now some one can be envious of say a friend...who has a new nice car but instead of going to malice, he checks himself and becomes happy for his friend. The thing about envy that needs to be watched out for would be when we have malice (bad, evil intentions, thoughts verses good happy...). The thing about envy is that it can cause a lot of damage. For with our example about one is envious of a possession, car, one might go so far as to damage... the car. Or if something was to happen (stolen, damaged) they have that happy feeling about what has happened, they are happy that it was done to so and so. In the example above we used possessions but it is not the possession that is being hurt it is the person. Now some times we take our envy to people themselves; we are envious of how they look, their position at work..., their abilities, their influence, their achievements, their wisdom... the things they are doing... Here is where a lot of damage takes place. Remember associated with this word is malice. So in our society how does one show envy? It would be with the use of words, gossip if you will. The use of words to put one down... showing the little flaws in someone, their weakness... to try to over shadow the good... that the person does... Putting up negative words... to invoke negative feelings of others toward that person. One could even use resources that are different than what the person is about to tear them down. "To tear them down", that would be a good phrase. Now envy also involves a dislike of a person, it does not have to have a solid reason... it goes on feelings... It amazes me how we can dislike someone just in a few seconds... of seeing them. It amazes me how sometimes it is manifested, and how long it is carried out... Love does not envy.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Love is kind

Love is kind. The second character of love. As we have mentioned before love is an action; so this character of love is also an action. There are some words that we can associate with what it means to be kind. The first would be gentleness, I am using this one first for it seems that if one is practicing being patient, then kindness would start manifesting itself, hopefully. So gentleness is more than refraining... It is that of be understanding and caring. Now here is an example, some people have that gentleness, calmness when dealing with animals, but remember it is a lot more than that. The next word would be compassion, to sympathize with someone. Now it is not only feeling bad about what has happened to someone but to be active in helping... Here is what I think about when I think about, kindness, when you hear someone say, " you were so kind to do that..." It's an action being done, even just being prayer. Another words that is associated with kindness would be mercy. This I am going to link to situations that arise from some ones wrong choices... Even though it is not limited to that... but sometimes one needs to be shown mercy for something they have done. That kindness needs to be there. Now this is when we need to work on kindness. You see it might not be affecting you... but you know about the "wrong" if you will and the feeling of resentment... comes. So put on kindness, fight all the other feelings and action. For our God is merciful to us, look what is said in Lam. 3:22 "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning great is your faithfulness." This is a great verse about love and what we are looking at; just like God we need to be full of mercy, full of kindness. One more verse to demonstrate this, Matt. 9:36 "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd."

Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Love is patient

We have been looking at the verse John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." There is a very important word for why God would send His Son to pay the price for our short comings...sin. That word would be love. Now when we think of love, if you are like me, some things come into mind. Love for my wife, children, extended family and even some friends. We will think of romance, sex, love of certain foods, possessions and the love of certain activities. For us that use the English language the word love is used in a very broad way as mentioned above. But is that the way that the word love is used in our verse or better yet; how is it used in our verse and what does it mean? So first let me put out three Greek word used for love, The first would be, agape(agapan), the second philo(philien) and the third eros. Now the third eros, sexual love we will not deal with. The second philo means, brotherly love, freindship. Now agape, let's call this God's love, it is unselfish love, a love that is dedicated to something no matter what. So what is love is still the question; love is an action it is more than just words. So what actions show love? Remember we are not including eros. Now before we get to those actions that show love let us not confuse love with lust, a strong desire. The best place that describes love is found in 1Corinthians 13:4-7 let's include part of verse 8. Verse 4 "Love is patient" would be the first character, or part that makes up what love is. Patient is an interesting word, it involves a few meanings like not acting hastily, bearing pains and trails calmly, steadfast despite opposition, manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain. So here are the first actions that demonstrate love. Not acting hastily, some of us are in a hurry most of the time, go, go , go. And when something comes up or when someone (usually someone close) doesn't perform or do... what we think needs to be done.. or doesn't do it "right" ; you know what happens. For some it happens in a big way for others their inpatient is shown in a little way (their good at hiding it). Now those instances of not performing are part of everyday life of doing things, but sometimes things are done a miss, on purpose if you will or even unawares that test our patience. So patient is what we all need to do to demonstrate love. Instead of getting wound up stop and think... come along side help if needed and forgive if needed. Now do not think that this is something that is easy... that we don't react fast, we wait a few minutes... some time you might need to be patient for a long time,hours, days, weeks, or even years. Think how patiently God waited for you just for salvation to be accepted, never mind how patient He is for us now as we try to follow His ways. This first character of love is not easy to do but let us all make a big effort to be more patient.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

One way into Heaven

We have been looking at John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will have everlasting life..." We looked at grace and mercy but today I want to look at why we all need to believe in Jesus the Son of God. Now this might seem a little different if you will but keep on reading and hopefully it will make sense. As believers we look at this verse and come to the conclusion that this the only way to get into heaven. But many think there is another. That other is what most are trying to do! That would be to live a life without sinning too badly if you will. Now with that comes the idea that if we are a so called "good" person you can get to heaven... And also comes the idea if you do more "good" than bad you can get into heaven. There is a lot of rationalizing, bending of what is good, bending of what is good works and the rationalizing away what is bad. This is where a lot of people are, not many want to think of themselves as bad, no good... or needing a savior. If only the world will come to the conclusion that they need a savior, that savior being God's Son, Jesus. You see we all have the same thing in common. that we all have sinned and that we all were born with sin as part of us. Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Now this is simple, all of us have sinned; why is it so hart to admit that? Even as Christians it is hard to admit that, that we still sin. That we still need to go to Jesus for forgiveness. One last thing when we look at what is sin... we need to look at what God has said is sin, not what we think is sin; nor should we rationalize that there is no God so this issue does not matter. In the end it does! When we enter heaven and ask how did you get here? The answer will all have the same tune, "Jesus