All About GOD - Growing Relationships with Jesus and Others
The Measure of Love
People all over the world struggle to understand love. Christians struggle with their understanding of love too. Currently, the statistics for divorce are actually greater (higher) for those who claim to be Christians now, than for those who do not. Divorce is not the only statistic that suggests people struggle with this issue either. I meet and talk with many people that do not believe they are loved or can have love. Some feel they move in and out of it at times and some believe they actually control love... expressing it here or there and holding back elsewhere, depending on their feelings.
One of the biggest deceptions about love is that we believe that it has something to do with our feelings. We make decisions about our relationships based on our feelings.
A young man who believed he was wildly in love with a young women is puzzled by the lack of feelings he has for her now. The minute she showed interest in him, suddenly, he has lost interest in her. Now, he is confused about love and wonders what it was he felt earlier... or what is wrong within himself.
Fatigue, ill health, and stress pull at our emotions... our "feelings" and it affects what we believe is our ability to love. Anger and frustration have even greater affect on our feelings and subsequently impact what we believe is our ability love. The real problem with love is that, "real love" has nothing to do with the way we feel! Love is something you either have or you don't have! And if you have love, real love, it is something that is not controlled by your feelings.
God does not... and cannot teach us how to Love, either... we'll come back to this fact, later. But, God does give us a description of real love in the example of Christ's' life here on earth, recorded in the Gospels... Gods' own example of love (agape) throughout the whole Word (bible)... and even a specifically detailed description for us to measure ourselves by in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13.
If we want to measure whether we exhibit real love or not... separate the fake from the factual, the counterfeit from the real thing, God gives us the rule (description) by which we can measure love.
Want to know if what you feel is REAL love? Ask yourself this:
How long do I feel my Love can endure with God and others? God "is" over everyone whether they believe it or not and He allows things to happen that you may not understand nor help (change). Do you "feel" your love can endure God? And how long do you feel your love will endure the obstacles presented by everyone else in your life? Things change!... Will your love?
Do you feel your love is patient with God and others? When things affect your feelings... good or bad... are you slow to react, patient to think, take time to see what God may be doing, see what may be wrong with someone, patient to wait for a real loving response! Have you considered how patient God has been with all of us?
Do you feel your love is kind with God and others?
How do you greet others when you don't "feel" good? Are your struggles any worse than theirs. Can you really say you love someone that you've never "felt" like talking to? And when God asks you to do something, do you ignore Him? Do others consider your love, KIND?
Do you feel your love is envious or jealous with God and others? When God "feels" it's someone else's turn to be blessed... How does your love "feel" about that? Are you thankful to God and for others when God gives to them?
Do you feel your love is boastful or vainglorious with God and others? When it's your turn to be blessed by God, does your love feel like thanking Him before you bask in the blessing? Will your love for others remind you that inconsiderate joy can hurt others that may not have received the same?
Do you feel your love is conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride) with God and others? Is the purpose of your love to show everyone that you are loving? If so, God knows because He listens to your heart, not what you're saying! And in time everyone else will to. Do you feel your love is real, or really to help you feel?
Do you feel your love is rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly with God and others? It's true that if many don't accept Christ, they will go to hell... It's also true that it's not too late for them to receive eternal life! Which truth does your love feel is a rude and unbecomingly thing to say? Do you feel your love may turn someone further away from God?
Do you feel your love insists on its own rights or its own way, or is self-seeking; with God and others? How do you feel when someone you love doesn't return it? How does your love feel when it's rejected... could it have been for yourself that you loved them in the first place?
Do you feel your love is touchy or fretful or resentful with God and others? How quickly are you set ablaze around those you feel you love? And ask yourself this... how long does your love take to forgive people?
Do you feel your love accounts for the evil done to it [does it pay attention to a suffered wrong you believe to have been done by God or others]? If your love is "real" love, then "why" would it account for anything wrong done? Put yourself on the cross for a moment and consider... If Christ asked God to forgive them... He must have not accounted for all they had done to Him. If your love is controlled by what others do to you, what was the measure of it in the first place?
Do you feel your love rejoices at injustice and unrighteousness with God and others? How does your love feel when someone that got the job you thought was yours, gets fired two months later because someone lied about them? How does your love feel when things like this happen to anyone?
Do you feel your love rejoices when right and truth prevail with God and others? When it seems like advancements of faith happen within the church body or in the community, does your love feel like praising the Lord and celebrate with others. Can you rejoice in victory over even one lost soul coming into salvation. How do you feel when you see a baptism? Could you record the ballgame just once, so that you could go watch a new Christian baptized?
Do you feel your love bears up under anything and everything that comes with God and others? Walking in real love is a rollercoaster ride of being filled with Gods' love... Praising Him for continued revelation, spiritual perception, and immense compassion... And then there are times of intense sorrow, selfless emptying, humble prayers, and many shed tears. Can "your" love bear up under anything and everything that comes with real love?
Is your love ever ready to believe the best of every person? Gods' love will set before you people you never thought you would even go near... people of all walks of life. Even among Christians you will experience people at many levels of growth in love. Is your love ever ready to believe the best in everyone?
Do you feel your loves hopes are fadeless under all circumstances... Or can your love endure everything [without weakening]?
Does your Love ever fail [ever fade out or become obsolete or come to an end]? I'll tell you this... Real love doesn't!
When you measure your love to what God says it should look like, you'll see it can't measure up. We fail miserably. We are incapable of producing real love, no matter how we feel.
As I mentioned earlier, God does not... and cannot teach us how to Love. We know that when we accept Christ as our savior, that He moves into our body and thus, fills us with His Love. That moment is the first time real love was ever within you! And even then, though we will experience His love within ourselves immediately, others may not experience His love from us for a while. The process of bearing the fruit of love has much to do with the relationship that is to follow after receiving Him. There is the deception of love (the idea that we ever could produce love on our own)that must be replaced. There are old habits that must be put away. There is a dying and denying ourselves that must happen over time to allow more of Christ to operate through us. This takes time, trust, and a reliance upon God.
Gods' Word then, concerning Love has begun to work along side The Holy Spirit to change the way we understood love, replace our earth born - world taught idea of love with The truth about Love.
It is a wonderful journey, rich with the fullness of life. A new life with real love. The Measure of Love... Wow.
I love you.
One of the biggest deceptions about love is that we believe that it has something to do with our feelings. We make decisions about our relationships based on our feelings.
A young man who believed he was wildly in love with a young women is puzzled by the lack of feelings he has for her now. The minute she showed interest in him, suddenly, he has lost interest in her. Now, he is confused about love and wonders what it was he felt earlier... or what is wrong within himself.
Fatigue, ill health, and stress pull at our emotions... our "feelings" and it affects what we believe is our ability to love. Anger and frustration have even greater affect on our feelings and subsequently impact what we believe is our ability love. The real problem with love is that, "real love" has nothing to do with the way we feel! Love is something you either have or you don't have! And if you have love, real love, it is something that is not controlled by your feelings.
God does not... and cannot teach us how to Love, either... we'll come back to this fact, later. But, God does give us a description of real love in the example of Christ's' life here on earth, recorded in the Gospels... Gods' own example of love (agape) throughout the whole Word (bible)... and even a specifically detailed description for us to measure ourselves by in 1 Corinthians, chapter 13.
If we want to measure whether we exhibit real love or not... separate the fake from the factual, the counterfeit from the real thing, God gives us the rule (description) by which we can measure love.
Want to know if what you feel is REAL love? Ask yourself this:
How long do I feel my Love can endure with God and others? God "is" over everyone whether they believe it or not and He allows things to happen that you may not understand nor help (change). Do you "feel" your love can endure God? And how long do you feel your love will endure the obstacles presented by everyone else in your life? Things change!... Will your love?
Do you feel your love is patient with God and others? When things affect your feelings... good or bad... are you slow to react, patient to think, take time to see what God may be doing, see what may be wrong with someone, patient to wait for a real loving response! Have you considered how patient God has been with all of us?
Do you feel your love is kind with God and others?
How do you greet others when you don't "feel" good? Are your struggles any worse than theirs. Can you really say you love someone that you've never "felt" like talking to? And when God asks you to do something, do you ignore Him? Do others consider your love, KIND?
Do you feel your love is envious or jealous with God and others? When God "feels" it's someone else's turn to be blessed... How does your love "feel" about that? Are you thankful to God and for others when God gives to them?
Do you feel your love is boastful or vainglorious with God and others? When it's your turn to be blessed by God, does your love feel like thanking Him before you bask in the blessing? Will your love for others remind you that inconsiderate joy can hurt others that may not have received the same?
Do you feel your love is conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride) with God and others? Is the purpose of your love to show everyone that you are loving? If so, God knows because He listens to your heart, not what you're saying! And in time everyone else will to. Do you feel your love is real, or really to help you feel?
Do you feel your love is rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly with God and others? It's true that if many don't accept Christ, they will go to hell... It's also true that it's not too late for them to receive eternal life! Which truth does your love feel is a rude and unbecomingly thing to say? Do you feel your love may turn someone further away from God?
Do you feel your love insists on its own rights or its own way, or is self-seeking; with God and others? How do you feel when someone you love doesn't return it? How does your love feel when it's rejected... could it have been for yourself that you loved them in the first place?
Do you feel your love is touchy or fretful or resentful with God and others? How quickly are you set ablaze around those you feel you love? And ask yourself this... how long does your love take to forgive people?
Do you feel your love accounts for the evil done to it [does it pay attention to a suffered wrong you believe to have been done by God or others]? If your love is "real" love, then "why" would it account for anything wrong done? Put yourself on the cross for a moment and consider... If Christ asked God to forgive them... He must have not accounted for all they had done to Him. If your love is controlled by what others do to you, what was the measure of it in the first place?
Do you feel your love rejoices at injustice and unrighteousness with God and others? How does your love feel when someone that got the job you thought was yours, gets fired two months later because someone lied about them? How does your love feel when things like this happen to anyone?
Do you feel your love rejoices when right and truth prevail with God and others? When it seems like advancements of faith happen within the church body or in the community, does your love feel like praising the Lord and celebrate with others. Can you rejoice in victory over even one lost soul coming into salvation. How do you feel when you see a baptism? Could you record the ballgame just once, so that you could go watch a new Christian baptized?
Do you feel your love bears up under anything and everything that comes with God and others? Walking in real love is a rollercoaster ride of being filled with Gods' love... Praising Him for continued revelation, spiritual perception, and immense compassion... And then there are times of intense sorrow, selfless emptying, humble prayers, and many shed tears. Can "your" love bear up under anything and everything that comes with real love?
Is your love ever ready to believe the best of every person? Gods' love will set before you people you never thought you would even go near... people of all walks of life. Even among Christians you will experience people at many levels of growth in love. Is your love ever ready to believe the best in everyone?
Do you feel your loves hopes are fadeless under all circumstances... Or can your love endure everything [without weakening]?
Does your Love ever fail [ever fade out or become obsolete or come to an end]? I'll tell you this... Real love doesn't!
When you measure your love to what God says it should look like, you'll see it can't measure up. We fail miserably. We are incapable of producing real love, no matter how we feel.
As I mentioned earlier, God does not... and cannot teach us how to Love. We know that when we accept Christ as our savior, that He moves into our body and thus, fills us with His Love. That moment is the first time real love was ever within you! And even then, though we will experience His love within ourselves immediately, others may not experience His love from us for a while. The process of bearing the fruit of love has much to do with the relationship that is to follow after receiving Him. There is the deception of love (the idea that we ever could produce love on our own)that must be replaced. There are old habits that must be put away. There is a dying and denying ourselves that must happen over time to allow more of Christ to operate through us. This takes time, trust, and a reliance upon God.
Gods' Word then, concerning Love has begun to work along side The Holy Spirit to change the way we understood love, replace our earth born - world taught idea of love with The truth about Love.
It is a wonderful journey, rich with the fullness of life. A new life with real love. The Measure of Love... Wow.
I love you.
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Comment
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Comment by preston on January 23, 2010 at 5:34pm
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Charles, I am slow to get around right now, but I found your comment and do so appreciate you. And, you are so right about "allowing God"... Amen. Thank you, my friend.
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