Chapter One
What is Love?
So since we have this “lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6) let us delve into what love is; from man’s point of view and God’s. Through this knowledge we can grow and learn how much God’s love is, what it entails and how we can live by His standards.
The definition of “love” from Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary:
Love …
1 a (1): strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties
(2): attraction based on sexual desire (3): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests
2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion
3 a: the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration b: a person's adoration of God.
There are so many types of love that we hear about: erotic, platonic, familial, puppy and romantic. We seem to understand and we can relate to either experiencing or at least trying to obtain at least one of them. But there is a love that is beyond all of these. It is called “agape love”. The dictionary defines it as a “love feast” or being in a “state of wonder”. Christians define it as “unconditional love”. A love that is not subject to conditions, feelings or limitations.
It seems unattainable in our minds that there could be a love like this out there, but there is and it is what we all crave. Adam and Eve had it before the fall and man has been yearning for it ever since. We try and fill it with other passions, desires or addictions. But God’s love is agape love and when you learn the truth about His love and what it entails; you will experience love beyond measure and that hole in your heart will continually fill up.
God is love! (1 John 4:8). God loves all His creation. But if we don’t choose to follow Him, His hands are “tied”. He does not force Himself on us; it is a choice that we have to make.
When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God pours out His love into us through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). We just have to choose to walk in It. Galatians 5:6 says only faith activated and energized and expressed and working through love shows that we are in Christ.
I hope in reading this book, the fog is lifted and that you see God’s true, perfect and unconditional love is real, attainable and you can walk it.
Chapter Two
Let us start in the New Testament. Here we see God’s love for all His creation. I want to start here because the New Testament demonstrates, through Jesus Christ, God’s love for us and how through His death, burial and resurrection we become heirs with Him and therefore seeds of Abraham and have what was God’s promise to him, which is described in the Old Testament (Genesis 22:17-18).
God is love! What does that mean? We already know what the world says it is…”strong affection for others”. Let’s look at what the bible says love is…
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
LOVE IS PATIENT
Patient …
1: bearing pains or trials calmly or without complaint
2: manifesting forbearance under provocation or strain
3: not hasty or impetuous
4: steadfast despite opposition, difficulty, or adversity
5 a: able or willing to bear
Even the world’s definition of patience shows Jesus all over it. Look at what Jesus went through during His trial and crucifixion without complaining, with a calm and patient demeanor (Matt 26:1-22,66; Mark 14:1-15, 47; Luke 18:31-23:56; John 18:1-19, 42). Look at His patience in teaching. Showing the Jews and gentiles alike how to love God and each other by story telling, by miracles, by truths and by example. Answering the same questions over and over again. (Matt 21:17-25, 46; Mark 1:14-8:26; Luke 6:17-9:50; John 5:1-10,42)
2 Peter 3:9 (Amplified)
The Lord does not delay and is not tardy or slow about what He promises, according to some people’s concept of slowness, but He is long-suffering (extra ordinarily patient) toward you, not desiring that any should perish, but that all should turn to repentance.
God has a plan for us. His plan began long before he even created Adam, and He will wait as long as necessary to see it fulfilled. Look at the Israelites…they wondered the desert for 40 years. God needed to have those without faith pass on before He could continue their journey to the Promised Land (Numbers 13:29-38). Look how long He waited since the fall of man until He sent Jesus to redeem us. Look at Jesus bearing the humiliation and torture He endured. Can you imagine the pain in His heart when God turned away from Him because of the sin He took upon Himself (Matthew 27:46)? He has waited over 2,000 years and still His ultimate plan has not been completed on Earth. He waits because He loves us. Who can say God is not patient? He waits on every single one of us to make the right decisions. God waits patiently for each of us to come to the realization that we need Him. And He is eager to write our names in the Book of Life.
We are all important to Him. He would like for every single one of us to choose Him and waits patiently for us to make that decision. He sends people to cross our paths to inspire and influence us in righteousness and warn us of our bad choices and the consequences of those choices. But ultimately, it is up to us to choose Him and to choose Life.
Being a parent, I can empathize with His position. How many times do we tell our children to do something over and over and over again? We think to ourselves, how many times do I have to tell them…?! Can you imagine how many times God has said that about you…now multiply it by how many humans beings that have been born and have yet to be born. How impatient would we be? Now imagine how much patience God has to have to deal with all of our bad choices and to wait for us to wake up to righteousness.
2 Thessalonians 3:5 (Amplified)
May the Lord direct your hearts into (realizing and showing) the love of God and into the steadfastness and patience of Christ and in waiting for His return.
Sometimes I believe we think of patience as a bad word. I have even heard people say, “Don’t pray for patience you will be tested with it”. I choose to think that patience brings about a stronger faith. When we have to wait for something the devil uses it to tempt us to jump ahead and do it ourselves instead of waiting on God’s plan or to doubt what God says in His word about our situation.
I used to be an impatient person. I used to stand in a long line and gripe and complain, look at my watch, breathe out loudly in exasperation. But one day I was watching Believer’s Voice of Victory, they were talking about walking in love. It was like a light bulb went off in my head and I truly felt the Holy Spirit move within me. That moment changed my whole way of thinking. I had read it in the bible many times but it took that teaching to reveal to me how important the love walk is. I now try to put others first in my mind. I try to put myself in their place, in their circumstances and try and relate to them as I would want them to relate to me. And I now ask myself, “What would Jesus do?” Do I always get it right? No. Do I still sometimes think if something is what I want or want to do? Yes. But I feel good in my decision to listen to the Holy Spirit to make me aware of this flaw and try everyday to work on it and to pay attention if I fall back into it.
So what can we do to be patient? For myself, I like to start the day off in the presence of the Lord. I like to use a devotional as a focus for that morning’s thoughts. I read passages associated to the topic for the day. I write them down. I meditate on them. Pray about them and how I can incorporate them into my day. Then I pray. This starts my day off with focus and calmness. Now that means that I have to get up early every morning. But I do it, because it makes me prioritize Who I am to believe and trust in and it sets the tone for the day. I also like to say small prayers throughout the day and praise Him every chance I get.
Romans 12:12 (Amplified)
Rejoice and exult in hope; be steadfast and patient in suffering and tribulation; be constant in prayer.
Does that mean I never get impatient…umm…I have 2 children in elementary school, of course I get impatient. But that’s okay. I can take a breath and say a small prayer and feel better. I have to remember they are kids and don’t think like I do and don’t do things like I do. Now does that give them an excuse to misbehave and do what they want? NO. But it lets me take a deep breath and calmly respond to what they are doing. And that is the case with everyone I encounter throughout my day.
I try to ask myself - “why am I being impatient? Is it realistic? Is it being productive? Is my impatience making someone else feel uncomfortable?” When I am at the grocery store in the express lane, that is anything but, I need to take a deep breath and quietly let it out and smile. Me being impatient isn’t going to make things move faster and it probably really only flusters or angers the cashier and either gets the others around me riled up too or makes them feel uncomfortable. Is that an example of how Jesus behaves? NO!
Romans 15:5 (Amplified)
Now may the God Who gives the power of patient endurance (steadfastness) and Who supplies encouragement, grant you to live in such mutual harmony and such full sympathy with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus…
We also need to think of this when someone is being impatient with us. Is it easy? Most of the time I would say no. It is tempting to defend ourselves. It is in our (sin) nature to attack those who attack us. But we need to remember we are to be examples of God’s love by showing His patience.
2 Timothy 2:24 (Amplified)
And the servant of the Lord must not be quarrelsome (fighting and contending). Instead, he must be kindly to everyone and mild-tempered [preserving the bond of peace]; he must be a skilled and suitable teacher, patient and forbearing and willing to suffer wrong.
Until next week ... be blessed!
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