Love.
Wedding Emanuel & Jackie.
We all as humans need to be loved and it is no wonder because we are made in God’s image and God is love, He does not love, He is love, it is His very essence.
1 John 4:7-12.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
The law of God hangs on two commands to love him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbour as ourselves and in fact we see in Scripture that we cannot love God whom we have not seen if we don’t love our brother whom we have seen.
1 John 4:20,21.
For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Galatians 5:14
For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.
There is no escaping the importance of love in the life of the Christian and the Church, but because Hollywood has distorted the concept that many have of love we need to look at God’s Word to get the true picture and definition of what love really is.
1 Corinthians 13:1-7 & 13.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, 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.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Love is:
Patient.
Kind.
Rejoices with Truth.
always Protects.
always Trusts.
Always Hopes.
Always Perseveres
Love does not/ is not:
does not Envy.
does not Boast.
is not Proud.
is not Rude.
is not Self-seeking.
is not easily Angered.
does not keep a record of Wrongs.
does not delight in Evil.
does not Fail
Patience.
Calm endurance of hardship, provocation, pain or delay.
Kind.
Of a friendly, generous, benevolent or gentle nature. Showing friendliness, affection or consideration.
Rejoices with the Truth.
The average person in America lies 3 times a day. There was a time when a man’s word was his honour, but we have mastered the art of deception by telling half-truths.
Always protects.
1 Peter 4:8.
Love covers a multitude of sin. (don’t expose each other)
Love does not boast.
Jesus washed his disciples feet, are you willing to serve rather than be served ?
Love does not keep a record of wrongs.
When you forgive you need to choose to forget by not dwelling on the past even in your thought-life.
Love.
There are 3 main words in the Greek for love.
Phileo.
A friendship, sharing, conversation. (emotional needs more at the forefront)
Eros.
Physical love, our word erotic in English is derived from this word. (physical needs more at the forefront)
Agape.
Unconditional love that will cause one to lay down their life for the other. (Only God loves like this)
Woman are more inclined towards Phileo.
Men are more inclined towards Eros.
This may in some ways be an over simplification of the differences between men an woman, but as we look as we look again at 1 John 4:12 we will see that the spirit that ensures a successful marriage is one of been a giver and not a taker.
We see that if we love our partner in the way they need to be love by exercising our free will and putting their interests ahead of our own, God will perfect his own Agape love in our lives in response to our obedience and we will love each other with an unconditional love.
1 John 4:12.
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
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