Love
This was written by my friend named Ches, sharing with you as you may find it inspirational.
"What the world needs now, perhaps more than ever, is love.
It is not that love is not talked about enough or sung about enough. Just browsing through my iTunes library, I find 23 songs with love in the title. Who knows how many more of the other 670 songs have love in the lyrics. I know that the younger readers are laughing at my miniscule library of a mere 700 songs, but let me focus you back to the point that love is broadcast thousands of times daily in our media. So do I say we in such need for something so prevalent? I feel that that is the crux of societys problems and confusions today.
Well, there has to be something confusing and mysterious about a word with such broad definitions and gravity that the sentence, He loves McDonalds and he loves the Lord is completely, grammatically, indubitably, undeniably, strangely correct (and I have heard that before). With that background, let me try to define no describe the love that I referred to in line #1:
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
I will admit that this is a typical way that Christians define love, but that is because it paints such a good picture of what love - "agape" love - is supposed to look like.
Now - let me propose to you that this is not the "love" that is broadcasted across a hundred million speakers in this country - the last statement of the description proves that very quickly.
So there it is - that is my theory for why there is so much wrong with our society (if you don't think that there is that much wrong - look at some statistics for eating disorders and suicides and divorces and come back). . . but if you know me, you know there is no way that I am going to stop there.
You see - this description obviously comes from the Bible, so it makes sense that our very non-Christian society does not embrace it . . . or does it?
Think about these two statements:
78.5% of the population claims to be Christian.
"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. - Jesus (John 13:35)
You'd think that this kind of love would be mainstream, with 80ish% of the population being identifiable by it . . . but it isn't. What are common are: divorce (about a 50% chance now - even higher in Christian couples), violence of every tragic degree, suicide, eating disorders, sexual crimes of every heinous degree, depression, identity theft, and the list goes on.
Might I suggest that the only way that we are going to make headway in making these things exceptions, rather than occurring every X minutes, is to embrace the most important aspect of the definition of love - its infinitude.
You see - out of everything that is mentioned in the Bible, love is of the few things that have no limits.
Let me repeat this key aspect: Love has no limits.
- It never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).
- Love is above every other virtue (1 Corinthians 13:13 and Colossians 3:12-14).
- Note the lack of exceptions in the definition and the encompassing use of the words "all" and not in the definition given above:
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
- Even truth cannot be told without being accompanied by love (Ephesians 4:15).
- Love is what gives meaning to all of our actions (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
- There are no restrictions on who we can/must love (even our enemies, of all people - Matthew 5:44).
- The greatest command is to "love" (God with everything we have - Matthew 22:37 - and our neighbor as if there were no distinction between them and us - Matthew 22:39) - no "if"'s, "and"'s, "except"s, "unless"'s, or "but"'s anywhere in sight.
- Love is the encompassing of the whole Old Testament (Matthew 22:40 and 1 John 3:11 and many more).
- Love is the "bond of perfection" (Colossians 3:14).
- Love is a part of the fruit of the Spirit, against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23).
- We are to never cease in love (1 Thessalonians 1:3).
- God is love (1 John 4:8b) and God has no limits, hence love has no limits.
I hope you can now understand where I am coming from. Loves is boundless and unstoppable, but we do not wield it. We make love conditional, ie putting limitations on it. We will jump to say "I love you" and then ditch that pledge as soon as the "beloved" messes up (maybe why you can flip a coin at a wedding to see if it will end in divorce and why 40% of teenagers know someone who has been abused by their boyfriend). We flip the channel whenever one of the "starving-kid-in-Africa" commercials come on, saying that we tithed or we gave a little to such-and-such organization or charity so we don't have to give any more. We then criticize our government for not doing more to help those conditions in Africa as we watch those commercials and the news in total comfort (whether we recognize it or not). We don't make an effort to answer the questions that our young ones have, letting them figure it out themselves through their friends and their media, neither of which have concern for truth nor what is right but for what feels good. We criticize the emo and cutters and even the depressed, saying that it is just a phase - then we talk about how much of a shame that it is that they chose suicide when they couldn't find a way out!
We help out others only when it is convenient - going truly out of our way has become the exception "to" and not the rule of "love."
It is little wonder why the "evolution of altruism" is becoming less of a hurdle for scientists to explain - if you cannot find it in humans then there is no problem when you cannot find it in chimps!
Here's the deal, though. Once again, I still would not expect to see this type of love coming out of a society of a bunch of Christians. Christians are humans, just like everyone else. They are incapable in and of themselves of such love, since something with limits cannot contain something that has none. It is only by adherence to God that this love can flow into us and therefore overflow to others. The reason why you do not see this love is because Christians in this nation are not fulfilling their only duty: to follow God's heart, ie to grow in their relationship with Him, ie to cast aside our ideas and hear what God has to say about His love for us and the love He has waiting for everyone else.
"So you are blaming Christians for the problems with this country?"
In a way, you bet I am. If we lived out our confession, it would blatantly obvious to the world that there is another way to live life - that it is possible to live in a world consumed by sin and not be consumed along with it. Then there would be hope.
But that is not the way it is. I ran across a poll on a Christian blog asking what the biggest problem facing America is. The choices were not a surprise to me at all, just a disappointing reaffirmation of the distorted priorities of the church today: the problem is not "homosexuality" - the problem is the sin in our own hearts; the problem is not "abortion" - the problem is that we care enough to protest abortion, but we don't seem to care enough to do what it takes to support the existing children and struggling mothers, let alone new ones; the problem is not the "economy/gas prices" - the problem is our greed and dog-eat-dog tendencies that destroy each other's lives even when the economy is good and gas is cheap; the problem isn't "immigration" - the problem is the fact that few Americans will bother to empathize with anyone outside our borders (putting a geographic limit on love); and the problem is not "the war in Iraq" - the problem is the pacifism towards the war in our hearts, demanding that no one challenge the dictators that rule our hearts with an iron fist.
Now, I am by no means innocent as I appear to point the finger outward - I am in need of loving (ie my loving of others) as much or often more than anyone else. I am so grateful to God that so many verses and books and stories have found their way before my eyes and ears that all resound with the same message - love, ie love that changes hearts and has no exceptions. I just wanted to relay that message, despite/especially because of my need of it myself."
Ches
Thoughts and comments?
This was written by my friend named Ches, sharing with you as you may find it inspirational.
"What the world needs now, perhaps more than ever, is love.
It is not that love is not talked about enough or sung about enough. Just browsing through my iTunes library, I find 23 songs with love in the title. Who knows how many more of the other 670 songs have love in the lyrics. I know that the younger readers are laughing at my miniscule library of a mere 700 songs, but let me focus you back to the point that love is broadcast thousands of times daily in our media. So do I say we in such need for something so prevalent? I feel that that is the crux of societys problems and confusions today.
Well, there has to be something confusing and mysterious about a word with such broad definitions and gravity that the sentence, He loves McDonalds and he loves the Lord is completely, grammatically, indubitably, undeniably, strangely correct (and I have heard that before). With that background, let me try to define no describe the love that I referred to in line #1:
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
I will admit that this is a typical way that Christians define love, but that is because it paints such a good picture of what love - "agape" love - is supposed to look like.
Now - let me propose to you that this is not the "love" that is broadcasted across a hundred million speakers in this country - the last statement of the description proves that very quickly.
So there it is - that is my theory for why there is so much wrong with our society (if you don't think that there is that much wrong - look at some statistics for eating disorders and suicides and divorces and come back). . . but if you know me, you know there is no way that I am going to stop there.
You see - this description obviously comes from the Bible, so it makes sense that our very non-Christian society does not embrace it . . . or does it?
Think about these two statements:
78.5% of the population claims to be Christian.
"By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. - Jesus (John 13:35)
You'd think that this kind of love would be mainstream, with 80ish% of the population being identifiable by it . . . but it isn't. What are common are: divorce (about a 50% chance now - even higher in Christian couples), violence of every tragic degree, suicide, eating disorders, sexual crimes of every heinous degree, depression, identity theft, and the list goes on.
Might I suggest that the only way that we are going to make headway in making these things exceptions, rather than occurring every X minutes, is to embrace the most important aspect of the definition of love - its infinitude.
You see - out of everything that is mentioned in the Bible, love is of the few things that have no limits.
Let me repeat this key aspect: Love has no limits.
- It never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8).
- Love is above every other virtue (1 Corinthians 13:13 and Colossians 3:12-14).
- Note the lack of exceptions in the definition and the encompassing use of the words "all" and not in the definition given above:
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
- Even truth cannot be told without being accompanied by love (Ephesians 4:15).
- Love is what gives meaning to all of our actions (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
- There are no restrictions on who we can/must love (even our enemies, of all people - Matthew 5:44).
- The greatest command is to "love" (God with everything we have - Matthew 22:37 - and our neighbor as if there were no distinction between them and us - Matthew 22:39) - no "if"'s, "and"'s, "except"s, "unless"'s, or "but"'s anywhere in sight.
- Love is the encompassing of the whole Old Testament (Matthew 22:40 and 1 John 3:11 and many more).
- Love is the "bond of perfection" (Colossians 3:14).
- Love is a part of the fruit of the Spirit, against such there is no law (Galatians 5:22-23).
- We are to never cease in love (1 Thessalonians 1:3).
- God is love (1 John 4:8b) and God has no limits, hence love has no limits.
I hope you can now understand where I am coming from. Loves is boundless and unstoppable, but we do not wield it. We make love conditional, ie putting limitations on it. We will jump to say "I love you" and then ditch that pledge as soon as the "beloved" messes up (maybe why you can flip a coin at a wedding to see if it will end in divorce and why 40% of teenagers know someone who has been abused by their boyfriend). We flip the channel whenever one of the "starving-kid-in-Africa" commercials come on, saying that we tithed or we gave a little to such-and-such organization or charity so we don't have to give any more. We then criticize our government for not doing more to help those conditions in Africa as we watch those commercials and the news in total comfort (whether we recognize it or not). We don't make an effort to answer the questions that our young ones have, letting them figure it out themselves through their friends and their media, neither of which have concern for truth nor what is right but for what feels good. We criticize the emo and cutters and even the depressed, saying that it is just a phase - then we talk about how much of a shame that it is that they chose suicide when they couldn't find a way out!
We help out others only when it is convenient - going truly out of our way has become the exception "to" and not the rule of "love."
It is little wonder why the "evolution of altruism" is becoming less of a hurdle for scientists to explain - if you cannot find it in humans then there is no problem when you cannot find it in chimps!
Here's the deal, though. Once again, I still would not expect to see this type of love coming out of a society of a bunch of Christians. Christians are humans, just like everyone else. They are incapable in and of themselves of such love, since something with limits cannot contain something that has none. It is only by adherence to God that this love can flow into us and therefore overflow to others. The reason why you do not see this love is because Christians in this nation are not fulfilling their only duty: to follow God's heart, ie to grow in their relationship with Him, ie to cast aside our ideas and hear what God has to say about His love for us and the love He has waiting for everyone else.
"So you are blaming Christians for the problems with this country?"
In a way, you bet I am. If we lived out our confession, it would blatantly obvious to the world that there is another way to live life - that it is possible to live in a world consumed by sin and not be consumed along with it. Then there would be hope.
But that is not the way it is. I ran across a poll on a Christian blog asking what the biggest problem facing America is. The choices were not a surprise to me at all, just a disappointing reaffirmation of the distorted priorities of the church today: the problem is not "homosexuality" - the problem is the sin in our own hearts; the problem is not "abortion" - the problem is that we care enough to protest abortion, but we don't seem to care enough to do what it takes to support the existing children and struggling mothers, let alone new ones; the problem is not the "economy/gas prices" - the problem is our greed and dog-eat-dog tendencies that destroy each other's lives even when the economy is good and gas is cheap; the problem isn't "immigration" - the problem is the fact that few Americans will bother to empathize with anyone outside our borders (putting a geographic limit on love); and the problem is not "the war in Iraq" - the problem is the pacifism towards the war in our hearts, demanding that no one challenge the dictators that rule our hearts with an iron fist.
Now, I am by no means innocent as I appear to point the finger outward - I am in need of loving (ie my loving of others) as much or often more than anyone else. I am so grateful to God that so many verses and books and stories have found their way before my eyes and ears that all resound with the same message - love, ie love that changes hearts and has no exceptions. I just wanted to relay that message, despite/especially because of my need of it myself."
Ches
Thoughts and comments?
