Just when I thought I have been able to love and do so correctly, I realized I don't even understand its stance. It unveils itself in new dimensions daily, making it difficult for it to be understood in full, yet we are obliged to owe no man nothing but love (Romans 13:8).
Romans 5:6, "While we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus died for us". Jesus happens to be the only one I have known (there are possibly others whom I do not know) with such practical mode of love expressing all the qualities of love as stated in 1 Corinthians 13. We humans have no form of beauty or ability to repay Him for this kind gesture / love, yet He chose to love us. Humans tend to love (only) people who are related to them, who has profited them or will profit them and who wins their heart.
Will you still be committed to love and fulfill your plans for a girl who turns down your proposal and vice versa?
There will come a time when all that you based your love upon will fall apart, at that point will you continue to love?
Jesus shows us practically what love really is and how to love, but several has watered it down saying "Jesus is a supernatural being, so He can afford to love in that manner". I thought of another example with my mum who was the first (after Jesus) to love me unconditionally. Again you might say she is my blood and has no choice because of the bond. You'd be right by the way; but can any human being love in this manner? YES. Jesus will not demand that of us if it were not possible.
We usually look for what we will benefit before we can entirely love, and even when we have estimated in error what we hope to achieve and it feels like we are loosing out on it, we shred and the love gradually fades. If not tell me what will make an intoxicating love of several years to end in a divorce. You may want to say he has become the opposite of whatever that attracted you to him/ her. I know it is difficult most times to bear up for long, especially if you are on your heels to see that it works. Maybe it has even become a threat to your life and happiness to keep loving him/ her. It's been long I heard that someone died for love. We love ourselves (lives) more than anything.
Jesus in His last moments with His disciples, gave them a "New" commandment as recorded in John 13:34-35. Let's note: "Just as I have loved you" [vs 34b]. So HOW has Jesus loved us? Better put, HOW does Jesus love us?
The summary is: He loves us even with all our flaws (Rom 5:6); and even when we are not getting any better, he still loves us. For us, it will mean loving one another in-spite of all the flaws - not because you like or enjoy the flaws. Do not hate them but hate the very things that they do which makes you feel like hating them or giving up on them. And because you hate those things that they do, you would want to help them out of it - or respect their choice.
Here's an example: a husband tells his wife not to keep anything on the center table in the sitting room,but she keeps forgetting. It is almost like a habit and she does it involuntarily. He has nagged to the point that he is beginning to dislike her for that and for other minor issues. One day he thought to himself that he can actually help his wife by loosening up this 'law', so he decided to remove the center table {which happens to be glassware} to the side and keep a wooden table in its place. As you can guess, she kept placing something on the wooden table and a little more confidently because the husband was no longer nagging. Gradually, the pressure in the home began to cool off and she thought to herself that she needs to reciprocate what her husband has done. She took it to heart to remember not to keep anything on the table, and she did stop.
I heard a man say in a TV show that he knows his wife is a pathological liar which she agreed to, he is willing to live with her as his wife because he wants to help her. The woman was so embarrassed, not by what was said by her husband but by the love. Nobody needs to tell her to reciprocate that love by earnestly working towards a stop. The ultimate help will be Jesus Christ.
The rewards of love is hardly ever immediate, but it should not deter you from loving still. While you make friends who have fame and have plausible intelligence, also open your arms to those who will need your help and friendship,that is the way Jesus loved. He staged His table among tax collectors and publicans (Matthew 9:9b-11).
How then can we practice this injunction "Love your enemies and do good to those that hate you" (Luke 6:27)? Really not easy, because it is in our nature to love and reciprocate love only to those that love us. Some people even find it difficult to love those who love them, let alone to love those that despise / hate them. Some people, if they ever do it, do so with ill motives.
Love is not bought but earned (Songs of Solomon 8:7), and sustained by day-to-day living. For such can stand the test of time. Bought love is scorned and looses its value when the resources that bought it is gone.
Finally,
Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13, NLT)
SHALOM.
Joy Mbadiwe - dedicated to my husband on his birthday.
Romans 5:6, "While we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus died for us". Jesus happens to be the only one I have known (there are possibly others whom I do not know) with such practical mode of love expressing all the qualities of love as stated in 1 Corinthians 13. We humans have no form of beauty or ability to repay Him for this kind gesture / love, yet He chose to love us. Humans tend to love (only) people who are related to them, who has profited them or will profit them and who wins their heart.
Will you still be committed to love and fulfill your plans for a girl who turns down your proposal and vice versa?
There will come a time when all that you based your love upon will fall apart, at that point will you continue to love?
Jesus shows us practically what love really is and how to love, but several has watered it down saying "Jesus is a supernatural being, so He can afford to love in that manner". I thought of another example with my mum who was the first (after Jesus) to love me unconditionally. Again you might say she is my blood and has no choice because of the bond. You'd be right by the way; but can any human being love in this manner? YES. Jesus will not demand that of us if it were not possible.
We usually look for what we will benefit before we can entirely love, and even when we have estimated in error what we hope to achieve and it feels like we are loosing out on it, we shred and the love gradually fades. If not tell me what will make an intoxicating love of several years to end in a divorce. You may want to say he has become the opposite of whatever that attracted you to him/ her. I know it is difficult most times to bear up for long, especially if you are on your heels to see that it works. Maybe it has even become a threat to your life and happiness to keep loving him/ her. It's been long I heard that someone died for love. We love ourselves (lives) more than anything.
Jesus in His last moments with His disciples, gave them a "New" commandment as recorded in John 13:34-35. Let's note: "Just as I have loved you" [vs 34b]. So HOW has Jesus loved us? Better put, HOW does Jesus love us?
The summary is: He loves us even with all our flaws (Rom 5:6); and even when we are not getting any better, he still loves us. For us, it will mean loving one another in-spite of all the flaws - not because you like or enjoy the flaws. Do not hate them but hate the very things that they do which makes you feel like hating them or giving up on them. And because you hate those things that they do, you would want to help them out of it - or respect their choice.
Here's an example: a husband tells his wife not to keep anything on the center table in the sitting room,but she keeps forgetting. It is almost like a habit and she does it involuntarily. He has nagged to the point that he is beginning to dislike her for that and for other minor issues. One day he thought to himself that he can actually help his wife by loosening up this 'law', so he decided to remove the center table {which happens to be glassware} to the side and keep a wooden table in its place. As you can guess, she kept placing something on the wooden table and a little more confidently because the husband was no longer nagging. Gradually, the pressure in the home began to cool off and she thought to herself that she needs to reciprocate what her husband has done. She took it to heart to remember not to keep anything on the table, and she did stop.
I heard a man say in a TV show that he knows his wife is a pathological liar which she agreed to, he is willing to live with her as his wife because he wants to help her. The woman was so embarrassed, not by what was said by her husband but by the love. Nobody needs to tell her to reciprocate that love by earnestly working towards a stop. The ultimate help will be Jesus Christ.
The rewards of love is hardly ever immediate, but it should not deter you from loving still. While you make friends who have fame and have plausible intelligence, also open your arms to those who will need your help and friendship,that is the way Jesus loved. He staged His table among tax collectors and publicans (Matthew 9:9b-11).
How then can we practice this injunction "Love your enemies and do good to those that hate you" (Luke 6:27)? Really not easy, because it is in our nature to love and reciprocate love only to those that love us. Some people even find it difficult to love those who love them, let alone to love those that despise / hate them. Some people, if they ever do it, do so with ill motives.
Love is not bought but earned (Songs of Solomon 8:7), and sustained by day-to-day living. For such can stand the test of time. Bought love is scorned and looses its value when the resources that bought it is gone.
Finally,
Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13, NLT)
SHALOM.
Joy Mbadiwe - dedicated to my husband on his birthday.
Comments
Post a Comment