How to cultivate and increase love?

[TruthSeek3r]

Love is, without question, the most fundamental virtue and principle of Christianity.

The Apostle John makes this very clear:

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. [1 John 4:7-8, ESV]​

The Apostle Paul seconds this in 1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.​

And how to forget Jesus' own words in Matthew 22:

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 22:34-40, ESV]​

With love being such a fundamental and central core principle of Christianity, a question that one should naturally ask next is: how to have this kind of love?

Is love (the Christian concept of love) a quality that can be cultivated, developed and increased over time? If so, how? Are there concrete spiritual practices that can increase a Christian's capacity to experience and express love?

Note: I'm looking for very concrete, practical steps that can be implemented on a daily basis leading to an increase in one's capacity to feel and express love (Christian love).

 

[mama2one]

"Love is patient and kind"


start with above and practice in your daily life with your neighbors, co-workers, and family

since we don't know your life, we don't know your opportunities to love


look for opportunities to help/love the people in your life

 

[GospelS]

I'm looking for very concrete, practical steps that can be implemented on a daily basis leading to an increase in one's capacity to feel and express love (Christian love).

In my experience, praying for others regularly is a sure way to achieve that.

 

[TruthSeek3r]

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth."

start with above and practice in your daily life with your neighbors, co-workers, and family

look for opportunities to help/love the people in your life

But these are just good actions. Are you saying that love = doing good actions? The apostle Paul in 1 Cor 13 (quoted in the first post) said the opposite, that even "If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing". In other words, you can do all the good actions you want, but if you don't have love, it means nothing.

In other words, love has to exist before you do good actions. So the question is, how to have love in the first place?

 

[public hermit]

Are there concrete spiritual practices that can increase a Christian's capacity to experience and express love

I think there are concrete practices we can develop, whether they are spiritual or not will depend on the fruit to some extent.

I think two key practices we can engage are being intentional and attentive. To love we must intend what is good for ourselves and others, being oriented towards to good in any given situation. In order to do that we need to be attentive to the good that is and the good that is needed- in the moment. Love happens mostly now, in this moment. We can help heal the pain of the past, which is part of reconciliation. We can prepare for the good that might be needed in the future. But now is the moment where love thrives.

One can practice being intentional and attentive by simply trying. But I think prayer, if we maintain constant prayer in our hearts, goes a long way in nurturing the practical aspects of being intentional about what is good and attentive to the moment in which the good is realized. In my mind, that is what all spiritual practice aims at. My fast is best when the moments are passed attentive and intentional about the good that is and the good that is needed, and not so much about how hungry I might be.

Just watch how Jesus interacts with people in a way that is always good and fitting for that moment. If he is in us, we can do the same to some significant degree, I think.

 

[mama2one]

.

 

[disciple Clint]

Love is, without question, the most fundamental virtue and principle of Christianity.

The Apostle John makes this very clear:

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. [1 John 4:7-8, ESV]​

The Apostle Paul seconds this in 1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.​

And how to forget Jesus' own words in Matthew 22:

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 22:34-40, ESV]​

With love being such a fundamental and central core principle of Christianity, a question that one should naturally ask next is: how to have this kind of love?

Is love (the Christian concept of love) a quality that can be cultivated, developed and increased over time? If so, how? Are there concrete spiritual practices that can increase a Christian's capacity to experience and express love?

Note: I'm looking for very concrete, practical steps that can be implemented on a daily basis leading to an increase in one's capacity to feel and express love (Christian love).

For me love is simply putting someone else's needs and desires before my needs and desires. It sometimes requires perceiving what their needs and desires are or should be, which means I have to try to look through their eyes. It is not easy to think of others first but it is fundamental to being able to show our love.

 

[Rachel20]

One thing that helps me is remembering Jesus had a good eye, often looking past all that was wrong with a person and finding something good (Luke 7 parable of the 2 debtors). And realizing we're all in the same boat. Having a common enemy, but also a common savior, helps me relate.

 

[Tolworth John]

Are there concrete spiritual practices that can increase a Christian's capacity to experience and express love?

There are two ways to incres ones love.

1/ by caring, doing what needs to be done for others, to be practical about others needs.

2/ to pray intelligently for the real needs of others, whether you like them or not.
None of the' God bless so and so.'

 

[timf]

Love is essentially selflessness. Setting aside selfishness, self-advancement, self-promotion, and self-serving is a good way to increase love.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

Love is, without question, the most fundamental virtue and principle of Christianity.

The Apostle John makes this very clear:

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. [1 John 4:7-8, ESV]​

The Apostle Paul seconds this in 1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.​

And how to forget Jesus' own words in Matthew 22:

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 22:34-40, ESV]​

With love being such a fundamental and central core principle of Christianity, a question that one should naturally ask next is: how to have this kind of love?

Is love (the Christian concept of love) a quality that can be cultivated, developed and increased over time? If so, how? Are there concrete spiritual practices that can increase a Christian's capacity to experience and express love?

Note: I'm looking for very concrete, practical steps that can be implemented on a daily basis leading to an increase in one's capacity to feel and express love (Christian love).

Love is a fruit of the Spirit. It comes from God.

Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

The only way to increase love, is to be connected to Jesus and His teachings daily.

John 15:4-5 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

We abide in Jesus through prayer:

Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

 

[aiki]

Love is, without question, the most fundamental virtue and principle of Christianity.

Actually, I would reserve this place for holiness rather than love. It is God's holiness the three cherubim before God's throne extol, not His love. "Holy, holy, holy," they proclaim about Him, not "love, love, love." We read in Scripture of God's holy throne, His holy mountain, His holy people, His holy word, His holy kingdom, His holy angels, and so on, but there is no equivalent description of all these things in terms of His love.

Love, though, is the ground out of which our relationship and obedience to God is to arise (Matthew 22:36-38), serving as the sole motivation for our walk with Him (1 Corinthians 13:1-3). But this love isn't an emotion, a feeling of semi-romantic affection for God, but rather, at bottom, a desire, a thirst, a hunger, a longing for God. (Psalms 42:2; Psalms 63:1; Psalms 84:2; Philippians 3:7-10) God has made us all to be powerfully motivated by desire; it is, perhaps, the most fundamental ordering feature of human behaviour. In light of this fact, God who made us so, tells us that a deep and deepening desire, a desire for Him that overtakes all other desires in our lives, is crucial to walking with Him.

With love being such a fundamental and central core principle of Christianity, a question that one should naturally ask next is: how to have this kind of love?

Romans 5:5
5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Galatians 5:22
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love...

Every person who is genuinely born-again, who has become a "temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), has within them in the Person of the Holy Spirit all of the love they need to be who God has called them to be. Why, then, are so few believers overflowing with the love of the Spirit? Because few believers are living in submission to him throughout every day. We agree to his filling and transformation of us by constant yielding to his will and way. When we don't, the Spirit convicts us of our lack of surrender, he halts his fellowship with us, he disciplines us with the bitter taste of the consequences of our sin and a lack of spiritual power in our living, but he will never force us to his will and way. We must, by a constant yielding to him, agree to his work in us, in response to which the Spirit brings us into a deeper, richer, fuller experience of God. (Romans 6:13-22; Romans 8:14; Romans 12:1; James 4:7; 1 Peter 5:6, Micah 6:8)

Is love (the Christian concept of love) a quality that can be cultivated, developed and increased over time? If so, how? Are there concrete spiritual practices that can increase a Christian's capacity to experience and express love?

As Paul explained in Philippians 2:12-13, the believer only works out what God, by His Spirit, has first worked into the believer. It isn't the believer's role to manufacture a love for God but to be a receiver and conduit of His love. This happens naturally, subtly and profoundly as a consequence of persistent, consistent humble submission to God.

The apostle John also pointed to a knowledge of, and confident belief in, God's love being essential to the development of one's love for Him. (1 John 4:16-19) It is one thing to know that God loves you; it is another to be fully convinced of, and well-settled into, the truth of this fact.

Christ, too, indicated that our hearts follow our investment of our "treasure" (time, energy, money). (Matthew 6:21) If one makes little investment in their relationship with God, neglecting prayer and study of God's word, spending comparatively little of one's "treasure" in these things - especially alongside far greater investments in competing "idols" (sports, relationships, hobbies, etc.) - one shouldn't be surprised when one's heart grows cold and distant from God.

 

[SANTOSO]

Love is, without question, the most fundamental virtue and principle of Christianity.

The Apostle John makes this very clear:

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. [1 John 4:7-8, ESV]​

The Apostle Paul seconds this in 1 Corinthians 13:

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.​

And how to forget Jesus' own words in Matthew 22:

34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 22:34-40, ESV]​

With love being such a fundamental and central core principle of Christianity, a question that one should naturally ask next is: how to have this kind of love?

Is love (the Christian concept of love) a quality that can be cultivated, developed and increased over time? If so, how? Are there concrete spiritual practices that can increase a Christian's capacity to experience and express love?

Note: I'm looking for very concrete, practical steps that can be implemented on a daily basis leading to an increase in one's capacity to feel and express love (Christian love).

Beloved one, you asked,”With love being such a fundamental and central core principle of Christianity, a question that one should naturally ask next is: how to have this kind of love?”

This is what we have heard :
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
‭‭I John‬ ‭4:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Apostle John told us in this is love, that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Why it was written,”not that we have loved God”?
Beloved one, without having loving God, we can’t perceive the love of God, that He has for us and that He sent His Son to be propitiation for our sins.

Remember beloved ones,what our Lord Jesus have said to us:
““As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15:9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
‭‭John‬ ‭15:10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Beloved ones, knowing that He loves us,
we should abide in His love. How ? Our Lord have explicitly told us to keep His commandments, we will abide in His love. So what commandments, we should keep ?
This is what we have heard our Lord Himself said :

“Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two COMMANDMENTS hang all the Law and the Prophets.””
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22:37-40‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Beloved ones, we should keep or obey these commandments, that is, to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all your souls, and with all our minds. And also, we shall love our neighbors as ourselves.Thus, we shall abide in His love.

Beloved ones, keep the Lord’s commandments, and you will have the love of God.

Beloved ones, consider the voice of our Beloved One, Jesus:

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”
‭‭John‬ ‭14:15-18‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Beloved ones, He shall not leave us without the comfort of His love. Our Lord Jesus shall come to us through the Spirit of truth.

Beloved one, you asked,”Is love (the Christian concept of love) a quality that can be cultivated, developed and increased over time? If so, how?”

This is what we have heard apostle Paul told us:
“but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:”
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4:15‬ ‭KJV‬‬

So beloved ones, so what you have heard from the Spirit of Truth, SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE, that is, how we grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.

Beloved one, you asked,”Are there concrete spiritual practices that can increase a Christian's capacity to experience and express love?”

Beloved ones, our Christian’s capacity to experience and express love derives from our capacity to keep the Lord’s commandments.
Beloved ones, let us meditate what we have heard from apostle Paul:

“Now God Himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct our way unto you. And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.”
‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭3:11-13‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Beloved ones, our love toward one another abound when God Himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct apostles’ way unto us !

For we heard:
“Again, do you think that we excuse ourselves to you? We speak before God in Christ. But we do all things, beloved, for your edification.”
‭‭II Corinthians‬ ‭12:19‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

So beloved ones, we should perceive and understand our love abound toward one another, are not apart from the Holy apostles’ way, that is in Christ Jesus.

For we heard apostle Paul said to us:
“Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”
‭‭II Timothy‬ ‭1:13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Beloved ones, Holy apostles’ way unto us, that God Himself and our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, direct. They have spoken before God in Christ. And they do all things, as our beloved, for our edification or strengthening.
The pattern of sound words which we have heard from apostle Paul, that is in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.

Beloved ones, our love abound toward one another because we do toward one another as holy apostles did toward us.

Therefore, the concrete spiritual practices
that can increase a Christian's capacity to experience and express love, that we imitate
the holy apostles as holy apostles imitate Christ.

To God the Father be thanksgiving through Christ. Amen