We as Christians, know what we are commanded by Jesus himself in John 13:34, that we should love one another, and the world will know, that are his disciples. And it is easy to understand, because God is Love. But loving others is a command, and it is not about what or how we feel about others.
You see, the Agape love of God, is more to do with us doing something to others or for others, rather than feeling loving them, or feeling love for them. I do not think Jesus commanded us to feel love for others but gave us a command to love others. And a command, is something we obey and do, rather than a feeling. And anyway, we can not force ourselves to feel love for other people anyway. But the command from God to love one another, is tightly related to what we are also commanded by Jesus to do to others, just as we would like them to do to us. Do you see that, Jesus told us to DO to others as we would like them to do to us. So, it is all about doing something to others, and not just a feeling or love. Sometimes, we actually, do not feel very loving to particular people, and we know, that we do not feel love in our hearts about them. Well, what does that mean? Does it mean, that we should not do anything good or positive to them, just because we do not feel love in our heart for them? I do not think so. No matter what we feel about others, we are commanded to do to them, just as we would like them to do to us. Yes, of course, it does not always mean, that others will do to us, just as we want them to do for us, but that is the goal, that is the command from heaven, on which we base what we will decide to do to others. Notice, I said decide, not feel, because that is what the command to love others is about. Because we want to obey God, that is why we decide to do them good, even if we do not feel like doing it. What about our enemies, people who do not like us, and are willing to do anything to hurt us, even without a cause? Naturally, we do not feel very loving towards our enemies, do we. Often, if we are honest, we can actually feel angry towards them, for treating us unfairly, hurting us without a cause. But, we are commanded by Jesus to love them. So, on one side of the coin, we can feel angry about our enemies, but on the other side of the coin, we can decide to say or do something good for them, because we are commanded so by God. It is not so easy sometimes to do that, but the Holy Spirit, by his love which is in our hearts, will help us to do so, in order for us to do, what we are commanded by God.
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1 Corinthians 8:1
These days and age, what most people in the world consider to be one of the most important thing in life, is to have more knowledge. Knowing how to use Information Technology products like smart phones, tablets, computers and the Internet, is valued highly, in today's world. Nearly everyone wants to progress and grow in their knowledge and advancement, in the world of technology. But what is getting cold in this world, is the love among people. Jesus said, that because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most, will grow cold. The world out there, and the people of this world, do not care these days too much, to grow in love, and that is mainly because they do not have the love of God, shed in their hearts, by the Holy Spirit, because they are not born again. Therefore, many people in the world, do not consider growing in love towards others, a valuable or important thing. But for us as Christians, to grow in love must be the highest priority, and even more than growing in knowledge. We can grow in love towards God and towards people, and we can grow in knowledge towards God, and towards the things in this world, like Information Technology for example. The Bible clearly states that growing in knowledge puffs up, but growing in love builds up. I believe that relates to, or is similar to, when we talk about the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our life, being manifested, and the fruit of the Holy Spirit, in our life. You see, we are commanded in the Bible to love God and to love people, which fulfil the whole Law of God. I believe we are to follow love, and desire the spiritual gifts. We need both, in our life, and that is why God made it to be written in his Word, about them. There are many people in this world, Christians, and Theologians, who know a lot about God. But the question is, do they grow in love towards God, and towards people. That is the important thing, at which heaven is looking, and longing to grow in our life. And that is why Apostle Paul said, that if he does not have love, he is nothing. You can have plenty of knowledge about God, and about Information Technology, but if you do not have love, you and not only you but me too, we are on a lower level of a spiritual growth, than a person who really grows in love towards God and people, but does not have a lot of knowledge about God or IT. We can become proud with our knowledge about God, and about Theology, but how can we become proud, if we have love for God and people. Knowledge about is necessary and important, and it can help us grow in our love towards God and people, but knowledge about God on its own, can cause us to be proud, just because of having all that knowledge about God. On the other hand, what God is looking for, is if we love him on a daily basis, and if we love the people he created in his image, as he has commanded us. That is why Jesus commanded us to love each other. And that is why Apostle John said that the person who love their neighbour or brother, knows God, but the person who hates their brother, and does not love their brother, does not know God. We can have all the knowledge about God, but still hate our brother, and not love people. All that knowledge would be in vain, if there is no love. In Matthew 5:23, 24, Jesus is clearly saying that we Christians, must first of all, make sure, that our relationships with other people, are sorted and on a good level spiritually, before we think, of doing anything for God, working for God, serving him in the church, evangelism, worshipping God, or any other service we do for God.
God seems to emphasize the importance of how our relationship is with people, in order to approach and serve him. We may think that if we spend enough time in prayer and fellowship with God, read his Word the Bible, or do any other work for God enough, then we are pleasing God, and serve him properly. But if we look at chapter 13 of first Corinthians, we can clearly see, that not matter what things we do, even if we give to the poor to help them, or have the gifts of the Holy Spirit manifested in us, or have great faith in God to do miracles, if we are not patient, if we are full with envy, if we do not forgive but keep records of the wrong things done to us by others, then we are nothing. The chapter 13 of the first Corinthians, is about our relationship with other people, and Paul says that if we do not have love, and that is love for people, we are nothing. That is why Jesus said in Matthew 5:24, 25 that we must sort out our relationship with other people first, before we come to God, to serve him, worship him, and do things for the Kingdom of God on earth. That is why apostle John also said that we can not love God whom we do not see, if we do not love people who we see. And that if we have love for others, God lives in us. No matter how much time we spend praying and worshiping God, not matter how much we fast, not matter how many passages from the Bible we quote, not matter, we are not close to God, if our relationship to others is not sorted out, and is not in a good shape. That is why the second command after the first command to love God with all our hearts, minds and strength, is to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Basically doing to others what we do to ourselves. |
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