Many theologians have preached on the concept of love but still struggle with the idea of it. To explain divine love, they generally do so by dissecting eroticism, brotherly, and familia love; of which are senses of belonging sexually, as a fellow human, and membership from a common patriarch. Then they turn to the Greek word “agape” to help in understanding.
Jesus was asked which was the
greatest commandment; His answer was this:
Master, which is the
great commandment in the law?
Jesus said unto him, “You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind; this is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like
unto it, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets” (Mat 22:36-40)
There are two metrics therein:
self-love (part 2) and divine love (part 1).
Note that it does not say you
must first love yourself to love others.
Self-love is a given and is
instinctive. Even animals seek to preserve themselves from death, don’t they?
Self-love seems to be the desire to never die — to exist forever.
In fact, even salvation is a form
of self-love; to survive both in the world and thereafter.
Regardless of the pain here, most
people would hang onto life. (Suicide may be, not an act of giving up, but
ending whatever pain that torments the mind of people.)
That is not just an opinion but a
biblical truth:
Ought men to love their
wives as their own bodies? He that loves his wife loves himself. For no man
ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord
the church; for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. (Ephes 5:28-30)
The standard of love is our own
flesh. With that said, flesh is of the world, so it would not be of the Kingdom
of God.
The fleshes of people are for
life in the world. Once the world is given up, flesh will be of little
importance. The “flesh” that you love so much… it will be given up for new
flesh. Strangely how so many hang onto and cherish the flesh even as they pull
the trigger.
The flesh is a sensory organ. It
is the flesh that must be adorned and appeased for way too many people. For
instance, consider tattoos and such; they are ways to adorn the flesh. Tattoos
are a metric of how much love there is for both art and the “biblia” on which
it is written.
For thousands of years pictures
were drawn on vellum — the dried skin of calves. Now pictures are drawn on
human vellum and left to dry.
The point is that humans love
their flesh and find ways to glorify it. Some do so with ink and such while
others are less brave, each morning applying whatever rouge and mascara it
takes to glorify the flesh.
We all do that; and selfies prove
it! Makeup, whether temporary or permanent, are types of selfies.
Paul also defined hatred: those
who do not cherish and nourish the flesh. His point was there is no such person!
In the same manner, those who love others must cherish and nourish their flesh
— their very basic human existence.
“The Jewish Problem” is not that
Jews are not human, but that those who hate them, in their hearts, souls, and
minds; hate God. You cannot hate others and still love God. That is why those
two commandments because us and Jesus should be members of the same body — the
Church.
(I rest my case; in general, most
humans love their own flesh).
The nature of human beings is to
despise others beyond their own members: families, nations, ethnicities, and
such.
Scripture does not address hating
the cultures of others, but hating those within any culture is unlawful. Like
the animals we are, those similar but different than ourselves are suspect and
threatening. Indeed, the survival of the fittest is in mankind as well as the
animal kingdom. Foolish people often diminish others. As such, most races are
racists because each cherishes their own flesh and their means of nourishing it
is to diminish others.
Jews, for instance, have been
persecuted for millennia. For Christians and Muslims, to elevate themselves; it
is easier to denigrate Jews. It is easier to deface others than to improve
yourselves.
Christianity is about advancing everyone
for God has a room for all who come to Him:
…the Son of man be
lifted up; that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His
Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might
be saved. (John 3:14-17)
In that passage, God defined His
own divine love: Whosever believes in Jesus should never perish. Love is
therefore for everyone who chooses to be of the family of God; all have the
right to The Tree of Life (Gen 3:24) if they trust Jesus for salvation. That is
what God wants and to be of like mind of God; Christians must also want than
none should perish.
Hence, Christians must never hate
any human being because God sees them all as “worthy,” not as they are, but
what they can be. He sees the golden opportunity to regenerate them from whatever
ethnicity that they are into the Christian ethnic wherein all are welcome.
Christians, do you not find it
easier to love people who are much different than yourselves if you know they
are Christians? It is much easier to love Christians because you are all
members of His body just as Paul wrote.
However, God is less discriminating
for He knows that anyone (“whosoever”) can be Christians. A good example was
Christ’s worst enemy Saul; a member of “whosoever” that God changed into the
Christian martyr, Paul.
Jesus corrected His followers
saying, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that
hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Mat
5:44). He practiced what He preached, and Saul is evidence of that!
Did Jesus like the idea that Saul
was a murderer as well as His own adversary? No; God chose the one who hated Him
the most, knowing that as a zealot, Saul could love Him the most. Are you a
zealot for Him? If not, then perhaps you should be. Paul’s turn from hatred demonstrated
love and soon he would turn his hatred for Christians into love for them.
So, you are a Christian! Good for
you, but how about others? Paul went into the world, perhaps even as far as
England as some say.
How far will you go for Christ.
That distance is somewhat a measure of your love for Christ and others. Why go
unto the world as Jesus commanded: “Go you into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Every creature includes more than your
household or community. It means more than preaching in a church building. YOU
must go where the other creatures are, even those much different than yourselves.
Hence, missionary trips are honorable ways to love, but you can go to them even
without going to them in person. Now you can travel the world with social media
and financial support. If you can’t preach, others can with your financial
support. (My way of going into the world is this blog and my books.)
Note that Jesus came to Saul, not
to get just Saul, but to get to the world through Saul. Jesus calls you, not
just to get you, but to get others, even your enemies. Sharing that
passion is true love; that you must want that others should not perish, just as
for yourself, you must want that none should perish.
Saul had crazy ideas — that
Christians were so different that he wanted them dead. Jesus changed Saul for
afterward Paul desired that none should perish and even gave his own life (as a
martyr) that others have opportunity to live forever.
Paul traded his proud flesh to
save others. He was humbled, as the name “Paul” means and in the end, he humbly
went to his own cross for Jesus so that others need not. He was not Jesus, but
his flesh no longer belonged to Satan either.
Love is not emotional; it is
empathetic: “The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to,
and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another”
Why to be “mean” to people who
are not Christians? Their souls are worth offending them. Of course, you don’t have
to be mean-spirited, but the first try is with love. You can love sinners into
Christianity but sometimes love hurts.
To save the souls of the lost is
worth offending their flesh. Whatever animal instinct that they have must feel
pain. True contrition is when you finally find yourself offensive. How
do I realize that I am offensive? God told me that I am. To love God, you must
know that you offend God. Sin is essentially offending God, and the Gentleman
that He is, He made allowances for offensive humans. That is grace.
How would you ever know that you
offend God? By sinning. Each time a person sins, it offends God.
Demonstration of love is
measurable — by how much we either offend God or not. So, you do not sin? Do
you thank God for anything, let alone in all things? If not, that offends God. Thanking
God (praying or praise) does not offend God. How often do you pray to praise
Him? True, you pray for things for yourself and your loved ones, but all but
forgotten are the unloved. Love is caring enough for the eternal lives of others
that you chance offending them.
Get over the idea that love is
emotional. Sure, when you think about cruelty to Jesus that is emotional. But
if you are not an emotional person, empathy will do. Put yourself in His place…
feel His pain and agony that he had for YOU! Jesus did not agonize for Himself,
but for all mankind, the centurion who pierced Him, and even those who mocked Him.
He even died for Judas — His old friend who turned enemy — but Judas defected.
If he had only waited for Jesus to make the sacrifice, his suicide was in vain.
You cannot justify yourselves because Jesus alone can do that!
Emotions come from your own feelings.
They cannot be forced, although some fake it well, as my grandson often proved.
Jesus provided a simple way: “If
you love me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). What are His commandments? To
love Him and others! The Law, He said, hung on those commandments.
The first four commandments are
ways to demonstrate love for God and the last six are ways to demonstrate love
for others. They are not “commandments” at all but things you are willing to do
to express love. The Jews never realized that! They were not things a believer must
do, but the way people empathize with God and others. Hence, love is
cognitive, so shed those fake tears. Prove your love by taking the commandments
seriously.
Now perhaps you are mad at me. Maybe
you have been tattooed or wear too much makeup. Perhaps you spend too much time
on your appearance while neglecting how you appear to God.
All of our fleshes have been
altered. All the hearts of all mankind have been hardened against God. Even
King David’s heart was shaped in iniquity (Psalm 51:5) but he knelt to God, and
it was remolded.
You cannot alter what has been
done but can whatever it is that you are doing. Only God can soften the
heart, but it must be presented to Him as a living sacrifice for the hardness
to be removed. So, you love God? Do you love others? Not tolerate but love them
enough that you will risk offending them.
The first step is to come to
understand that you do offend God by what you both think and do. Not doing
things is a good start but thinking (remembering the pleasure) will “harden the
flesh” as Lot’s wife demonstrated.
Love allows God to soften the
heart one day at a time. His Spirit is the “tenderizer” that really works if
used with love.
Brain Heart Connection Image (Adobe Stock)
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