Index
Love
1.God’s love to us
1.1.Love sourcing from Him towards us
1.2.Love that is willing to do not just feelings
1.3.Love working for us and giving us
1.4.Positively looking foe us.
1.5.Love sacrificing and giving for you and for your goodwill
1.6.Love doesn’t want anything from us but wants to give us everything
2.Our Love to God
2.1.Love the Lord your God
2.2.Love the Lord your God ... for Himself
2.3.With all your heart ... all your will
2.4.With all your mind ... convinced
2.5.With all your soul ... all your sentiment ... all your feelings
3.Love your neighbour
3.1.References
3.2.Importance of loving my neighbour
3.3.Types of love
3.4.Love
4.Love your Enemy
4.1.The basics
4.2.How
5.Love yourself
5.1.Choosing something better for ourselves
5.2.Accepting ourselves
Love
1.God’s love to us
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16
It is very difficult to explain the nature and characteristics of God’s love for us. But we will try to explain some of its characters.
It is:
1.1.Love sourcing from Him towards us
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” 1 John 4:7
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5: 8
- God doesn’t love us based on our righteousness or good characters in us, but because He is love.
- His love to us doesn’t depend on who we are; He loves us as we are.
- Yes while we were still sinners God revealed His love to us.
1.2.Love that is willing to do not just feelings
“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10
- It is a love that wants to give us the best. Hoping and looking forward to give us better life.
1.3.Love working for us and giving us
- It is love that is not only willing but it gave us a hand to make and create goodwill for us.
- In many places the bible talks about the goodness and giving of the Lord. And shows the His love uses all its power to make us happy.
1.4.Positively looking foe us.
“Go after the one which is lost until he finds it?” Luke 15: 4,5
- It is not standing still waiting for us to come and take the blessing; it comes out looking for us till it finds us. It moves towards us very positively; it is always willing to take the first step.
1.5.Love sacrificing and giving for you and for your goodwill
- He loved that much till He sacrificed.
- Is not only generous in giving but also sacrificing.
- It is only giving what He has but giving Himself.
- It is loosing, suffering, moaning for us and for our good.
1.6.Love doesn’t want anything from us but wants to give us everything
- Even when He wants love from us in reality He wants to give it to us.
- He wants us to love Him to enjoy His immersive love for us.
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?Deuteronomy 10:12-13
20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”Deuteronomy 30:20
- This is the true meaning of relation and unity
“that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21
“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” John 17:23
“And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”John 17:26
As for all of the above we can say:
- God’s love lead him to sacrifice Himself with all what it means of character, and all what it has of power, glory and beauty
- When he decided to create us He wanted us to be happy
- When he created the world He made it for us.
- Through our life with Him he gives us a lot.
- When He died for us He sacrificed Himself for us.
- When He called us to live in Him, exist in His trinity, in full unity He shared with us all His glory and beauty.
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” John 15:13
2.Our Love to God
2.1.Love the Lord your God
1.5.1.Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’[d] 38 This is the first and great commandment.” Matthew 22:37
1.5.2.And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength This is the first commandment.Mark 12:30
1.5.3.So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” Luke 10:27
1.6.We must start by this very important fact, that God deserve all our love.
1.6.1.For His amazing personality
1.6.2.For all what He gave and made for us
1.6.3.For all what He sacrificed and exert for us
1.6.4.For His unlimited love to us
1.7.All of the above make my Love to Him not strange or hard or require any effort or perfection from my side. This way God will be the only source of love whish is capable of giving without limitation.
1.8.Yes we love Him and worship Him in His glory
1.8.1.In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.1 John 4:10
1.8.2.We love Him because He first loved us.1 John 4:19
2.2.Love the Lord your God ... for Himself
1.9.Not because of His gifts ... but for Himself. Not loving His hands or His promises but His great personality.
2.3.Withall your heart ... all your will
1.10.He is the first choice to give him the first place in life.
1.10.1.He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.Matthew 10:37
1.11.He want that you well and the desire of your heart will be His.
1.11.1.In this manner, therefore, pray:Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.Matthew 6:9-10
1.12.You give to Him and live for Him.
1.12.1.So when they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah,[a] do you love Me more than these?”John 21:15
1.13.Even you leave and sacrifice for Him. You live the invaluable for the valuable.
1.13.1.But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.Acts 20:24
2.4.With all your mind ... convinced
1.14.But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.John 6:68
1.15.Thus all our thoughts will be in Him with understanding and convinced. He Himself deserve to be the leader and the master to follow all the days of our life, and even witness to Him with all glory, proud and honour.
1.15.1.That, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
2.5.With all your soul ... all your sentiment ... all your feelings
1.16.As the deer pants for the water brooks, So pants my soul for You, O God.Psalm 42:1
1.17.I sat down in his shade with great delight, And his fruit was sweet to my taste.Song of Solomon 2:3
1.18.How many times our feelings moved towards Him in real reaction with His amazing personality and his enormous generosity.
1.19.This way the sinner woman know and expressed at the feet of our Lord Jesus Christ her feelings and love towards Him. Luke 7
- With all your strength ... with all your ability
- We give our souls to Him as He already gave Himself and His life for us.
- To offer our bodies a living sacrifice to Him with all its talents and capabilities
- I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.Romans 12:1
- 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life. Deuteronomy 30:19-20
- 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.Deuteronomy 6:5-9
3.Love your neighbour
3.1.References
3.1.1.“34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”John 13:34-35
3.1.2.7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
3.1.3.“21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”John 14:21
3.1.4.“44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44-45
3.2.Importance of loving my neighbour
3.2.1.This how our Lord Jesus Christ lived in flesh and He is the master and the teacher. If we are His disciples we should love as He loved.
3.2.2. When He called Simon to follow Him. To where? To love and giving. Only by thisall will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
3.2.3.Love is the first true fruit to our relation with God. “7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
-“9 He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. 10 He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. 11 But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” 1 John 2:9-11
-“14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother[a] abides in death. 15 Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?18 My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:14-18
3.2.4.So; is it possible that we love God and we don’t love our brothers, all brothers?
3.2.5.Also the most important commandment he has for us:
-To love as He loved
“This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12
“34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
3.2.5.1.To love those who He love
“44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,[a] 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:44-45
3.2.5.2.To live love, because love is life.
3.2.5.3.How love will look like with out love? How it can have any meaning?
3.2.5.4.“If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised.” Song of Solomon 8:7
3.2.6.True love makes the unity in the body of Christ. It is the true miracle, which witness and prove that Christ is coming again to our world, and His love and death for us: “that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” John 17:23
3.3.Types of love
3.3.1.The root of the commandment is not just to love, but to love one another as He loved us.
“By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” 1 John 3:16
3.3.2.We can see through the Bible all kinds of practical love from our Lord Jesus Christ to His disciples “having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” John 13:1
3.3.3.St. John says about true practical love: “My little children let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” 1 John 3:18
3.3.4.St. Paul puts a detailed excellent picture of love in 1 Corinthians 13:
Love suffers long and is kind...gentle; tender, merciful
Love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up... meek and humble
Does not behave rudely...Doesn’t hurt or insult
Does not seek its own...It seeks the others
Love is not provoked...Makes peace to win
Thinks no evil...Does not condemn or judge
Does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth...does not rejoice for others mistake but for the rejoice of heaven.
bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things.
Love never fails
3.4.Love
3.4.1.Willing ... cares ... looking to fulfill needs
3.4.2.Shares what she has with the others (spiritually, emotionally and physically)
3.4.3.It is an open door for giving and receiving, and not only giving
3.4.4.is to be fully in the others position
3.4.5.to build and complete each other
“11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;” Ephesians 4:11-13
“15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” Ephesians 4:15-16
3.4.6.bond of perfection
“But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” Colossians 3:14
3.4.7.It is what makes the unity in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ
“That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” John 17:21