“LOVE”
It’s a popular subject in the world today,
but how it is defined by Christ is NOT how the world defines it.
The love that is popularly practiced and preached today is
actually the exact opposite of how Christ loved. Why?
Because the kind of love that Jesus taught and practiced
was centered in Giving, not Getting.
Ultimately, the full extent of His love
was giving His life for us on the cross.
That was the profound nature of Christ’s love for us,
and this selfish example of love is what we ought
to also have for one another.
By contrast, today’s popular culture says any kind of love is
'love' - no matter how or where or to who it is expressed.
It is about FEELING and what “Seems right to each
person” (Proverbs 14:12) however love based on
emotion or personal belief is not God’s way of practicing love.
The great 'Love Chapter' in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 13.
There, true love is defined as pure, peaceable,
and a perfect reflection of God’s love towards us.
In fact, love was a command Jesus gave to all of us (John 13:34)
and it requires our full obedience to God’s will for our lives,
the continuing transformation of our personal and family life,
and our dedicated outreach to the world around us, even
to those who may be our enemies. When we experience Jesus’
love in our lives, we will be able to give ourselves selflessly
God and to those around us.
Ultimately, that is what it means to truly love God with
all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and our neighbors as ourselves.
Friend, have you experienced Jesus’ love?
Are you following His commands? Feelings of 'love' may indeed
raise a well of emotion, but the TRUE LOVE of God’s will manifests itself
by Transformed Lives. His love develops His very character in our lives,
and brings us freedom from the Guilt of Sin to the Grace Of Salvation.
Jesus’ love for us compelled him to die for us, which in turn compels us
to no longer to live for ourselves, but to live for Him and
for others.
This is TRUE LOVE. That He gave His life for us, and so
we ought also to selflessly express this kind of love to others.
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