08.06.08
A Little More on Love
The discussion I read the other day on the 60 Minutes segment on Plumpy’nut has reminded me of a previous topic I have been wanting to blog about. Namely, the topic on love. I kind of put the topic on the back burner because I wasn’t sure from which angle I wanted to continue since there seem to be several aspects of love to explore. Thus I didn’t feel moved to write about it. But after reading many of the comments in reaction to the starving children in Africa, I was reminded that we really need to learn how to love one another. Overall, I think that many people do have good intentions, but even with good intentions, it appears that we just don’t really know how to love one another as evidenced by the comments and answers that I read on the discussion forum about the starving children and families of the world. It is true that actions speak louder than words and that the Bible calls us to action, so we must do more than just hope for the best and pray, however the motives behind the actions is also important so that our decisions and actions are appropriate. Love should be the underlying motive for our actions, particularly “Godly” love.
For a brief recap, a while ago I thought it would be nice to do a study on love, particularly what the Bible seems to show about love. I started my thoughts off in my post called, “Love Letter From God.” I chose that title because my overall feeling is that the Bible is like a love letter from God to us. It’s a detailed explanation of who we are, how God is involved in our lives, and how we can reunite with Him, etc. He explains everything from beginning to end all because He wants us to understand and because He loves us and would like us to come back to Him. I think that that basic message often gets lost or pushed back into the background. I think that’s unfortunate because so much about the Bible is about love and for a good reason, to teach us how to love.
Do people need to be taugh how to love? Sounds funny doesn’t it? One might think that having to learn how to love is ridiculous and that love comes naturally. People just fall in love, don’t they? It just happens. There’s nothing to it. But interestingly, God’s first and foremost commandment according to Mark 12:29-31 says this:
“29And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”
If love comes so naturally, then Why do we need to be told to love? First we are told to love God, and then in the second commandment we are told to love our neighbour as ourselves. If love comes so naturally, then isn’t everyone following God’s commandments and there’s no need to tell us that? My feeling is that we are told to love because people need to be taught how to really love, and the Bible is the true source of what love really is. All the laws laid down in the Old Testament were tutors to us, preparing us for the coming of Jesus who teaches us about real love and actually “shows” us through His examples. Before Jesus’s coming in the New Testament God, through Moses, laid out what “not” to do such as don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, don’t bear false witness against your neighbor, don’t covet, etc. People had to be told those things because it seems that those were the natural tendencies of man–to seek out self satisfaction. And since our natural tendency is for selfish and unloving things and ways, the current belief of searching in ourselves for truth and to first satisfy ourselves, as in many other philosophies teach, can be very harmful to us as Christians. Looking into ourselves first for truth often leads to hedonism, selfishness, and all of the things that the laws of Moses commanded us not to do. Love involves more than just a feeling, but also requires action and not just separating and alienating ourselves from the suffering of others as many of us want to do. I personally even know of people who don’t want to even hear about the injustices in our world, let alone do anything to try to help. James 2:14-17 tells us:
“14What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
15If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,
16And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?
17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”
And this is why I believe it is so important to look into the Bible to learn about love. It seems that even many of us Christians don’t really know Godly love. We’re so busy telling others that they need to believe in God to be saved, but what does that really mean? What does that mean to believe in God and be saved? From what? And what does God want of us? God teaches us about love. When asked, His first commandment is to know that He is the only God and to love Him with all our being. His second commandment is similar and that is to love our neighbors as ourselves. God teaches us with both words and examples. And this is why I think Christians need to focus more on the teachings of love. It is the first command to us. The Bible tells us in the end times of how love will grow cold. Either that means there will be less Christians in the end times, or that Christians will eventually not know how to love. Without studying love in the Bible, we will not know Godly love.
Marlakins
