|
.
LOVE.
WHAT IS LOVE?
"Love is
patient; love is kind and envies no one. Love is never boastful, nor conceited,
nor rude; never selfish, not quick to take offence. Love keeps no score of
wrongs; does not gloat over other men's sins, but delights in the truth.
There is nothing love cannot face; there is no limit to its faith, its hope, and
its endurance." (1 Cor
13:4-7 NEB).
'The spirit of
love must work the works and speak the tones, of Love. It cannot exist and give
no sign, or a false sign. It cannot be a spirit of Love, and mantle into
irritable and selfish impatience. It cannot be a spirit of Love, and at the same
time make self the prominent object. It cannot rejoice to lend itself to the
happiness of others, and at the same time be seeking its own. It cannot be
generous, and envious. It cannot be sympathizing, and unseemly; self forgetful,
and vain glorious. It cannot delight in the rectitude (1)
and purity of other hearts, as the spiritual elements of their peace, and yet
unnecessarily suspect them.' (J. H. Thom).
"Love in all sincerity, loathing evil and clinging to
the good. Let love for our brotherhood breed warmth of mutual
affection. Give pride of place to one another in esteem."
(Rom 12:9,10 NEB).
"Now that you have purified your souls by
your obedience to the truth with unhypocritical
brotherly love as the result, love one another intensely from the heart."
(1 Peter 1:22).
THE SOURCE OF LOVE.
"Dear friends, let us love one another,
because love is from God. Everyone who loves is a
child of God and knows God, but the unloving know nothing of God.
For God is love; and His love was disclosed to us in this, that He sent His only
Son into the world to bring us life. The love I speak of is not our love for
God, but the love He showed to us in sending His Son as the remedy for the
defilement of our sins. If God thus loved us,
dear friends, we in turn are bound to love one another."
(1 John 4:7-11
NEB).
"God loved the world so
much that He gave His only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith
in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life."
(John 3:16).
"Christ died for us while we were yet
sinners, and that is God's own proof of His love
toward us."
(Rom 5:8
NEB).
Christ said: "As the Father has
loved me, so I have loved you. Dwell in my love.
If you heed my commands, you will dwell in my love, as I have heeded my Father's
commands and dwell in His love." (John 15:9,10
NEB).
"For to love God is to
keep His commands; and they are not burdensome".
(1 John 5:3 NEB).
"God is love; he who
dwells in love is dwelling in God, and God in him. This is for us
the perfection of love, to have confidence on the day of Judgement, and this we
can have, because even in this world we are as He is."
(From 1 John 4:16,17
NEB).
A NEW COMMANDMENT.
Christ said:
"I give you a new commandment: love one another; as I
have loved you, so you are to love one another. If there is this
love among you, then all will know that you are my disciples." (John
13:34,35
NEB).
"And love means following the commands of God. This is the
command which was given you from the beginning, to be your rule of life."
(2 John V.6 NEB).
"However, with
reference to brotherly love, you do not need us to be writing you,
for you yourselves are taught by God to love one
another".
(1 Thess 4:9).
"If anyone makes the
statement: "I love God," and yet is hating his brother, he is a liar. For he who
does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot be loving God, whom he has
not seen. And this commandment we have from Him,
that the one who loves God should be loving his brother also."
(1
John 4:20,21).
"But if a man has
enough to live on, and yet when he sees his brother in need shuts up his heart against him, how can it be said that love for God dwells
in him?"
(1 John 3:17 NEB & footnote).
"If then our common life in Christ yields anything to stir the heart,
any loving consolation, any sharing of the Spirit, any warmth of affection or
compassion, fill up my cup of happiness by thinking and feeling alike,
with the same love for one another, the same turn of
mind, and a common care for unity."
(Phil 2:1,2 NEB).
(1)
RECTITUDE: Uprightness, integrity.
|