What I Have Learned about Love from Jesus-
Jesus gives us this command: Love each other as He LOVES His disciples...And He said, a greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends...We are to love each other as Jesus LOVED His disciples...This type of LOVE is Agape LOVE... Agape LOVE is the highest form of love, charity and the LOVE of God for man and of man for God...Jesus deals with Agape LOVE, on a higher form, and more than just the love of a friend...Agape LOVE is a Divine LOVE...Agape LOVE puts other people first, and so He would, in fact, He did lay down His Life for us and LOVE us in this type of LOVE...Jesus would go to the cross with Agape LOVE for us, and die for us...This was His command to His disciples and to us: Love each other...So followers of Jesus are to love each other, that is His command...
God first introduces us to love in the beginning, in Genesis...After creating the heavens and the earth and saw all He made, He said it was very good (Genesis 1:31)...But God looked down, a short time later, on man and saw that he was alone...God said that it is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18)...God here shows us, it takes that it takes two to have love and be in love...To have love, we need another one...We need a partner...Love is therefore personal with someone else, and not impersonal...Love is to be personally shared with another...For this reason for love to be love, it has to be shared...So love is a togetherness...For love to exist, someone or some entity has to receive it...
In Genesis, God teaches us the importance of love...Before there was even a father or mother (or even the words wife or husband), God teaches us that for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife and they will become one flesh (Genesis 2:24)...This underscores how important love and marriage are to God...God, in the very beginning, has given us the capacity to love...Love comes from God...So God's LOVE in creation is very much prior to mankind's learning about love and sharing our own personal love with others...
And then God teaches us the connection between obedience and love...When Eve and Adam eat the forbidden fruit, we see that disobedience has hurt God, because He wanted Adam and Eve to follow Him and not be disobedient to Him...Obedience is a part of love...We cannot do everything we want without thinking of the one we love...If we are attracted to something or someone and not think of the one we love, they get hurt...And we learn this early on in the Garden of Eden...
When we read the four gospels, Jesus teachings are all about love...Jesus LOVES His Father...He LOVES without bias or prejudice...He LOVES unconditionally...He has little or no self-interest about Himself as He teaches us about love...The foundation and cornerstone of His ministry is all about unconditional love...The two greatest commandments that Jesus gives us are about love...Love unites us together...We are to love God, and we are to love our neighbor...Loving others underlies very much of what Jesus teaches...Love links God and humanity...Jesus not only teaches us about love, but shows us that love is very much, if not most, about giving...Love sometimes sacrifices, and love sometimes suffers, and love gives everything...And through all these things love expects nothing in return...
The Bible teaches us what love is...And without LOVE, life is a empty, detached place and life...
Love starts at the earliest of ages...Love starts from the very beginning of one's life...Without the love of both a loving mother and father, things happen...If a little child is not loved, things do not go well throughout that child's entire life...So love is needed from in the beginning in our lives for us to reach our potential and function at the highest level ...We can grow up lacking self-esteem, feeling detached from the things around us, and not being emotionally grounded, if we are not loved at a very young age...From the lack of love early in our life, we can find much it harder to love someone later in our own lives...
So love make us alive and feel alive...If you do not love you will not feel alive...So when you are loved you feel alive and more alive...So love makes one feel that life is fuller...
Love is an expression of the heart...And I believe that love should be more in asking and acting, than love is in assuming...If love is always assuming about the one or ones you love, then things get taken for granted...Then love gets taken for granted...Love cannot be taken for granted...And when one is especially very young they need to be ask how they feel, if everything is alright, how are things going...A young one may not even know they need comforting, if they have never been comforted...So love comforts and loves soothes...Love is tender, caring, comforting, and kind...And love is all these things with feelings, yet love is more...Love is more than just an emotion...So love is more than just a physical attraction to someone...
Love shares...So love requires at least two...We know that love is something to be shared...Love wants to share...Sharing what we have is love...Love, on earth, may mean (something like this) wanting to be with someone and sharing with someone -while being cherished and accepted, encouraged and uplifted, a little mysterious, yet at the same time understood, comforting and at ease, and always forgiving...When you love someone, you are their friend...You hear the word true love, which means to me, love must be true, sincere, (and faithful) to the one they love...Therefore, love does not lie or tell untruths to their partner...Love is freely given by both or all the parties in love...Love is not a fifty percent to fifty percent proposition...Love is a one hundred percent to one hundred percent proposition...Both parties must give everything to love...Sharing all they have together with one another...Much of love is about this sharing...Sharing their feelings, and one's thoughts are also important...
So our love starts in the beginning with our parents and then family...And then later our circle of friends gets added to our loves...I used to think this choosing of friends did not come from God, but from our nature and what each of us liked and disliked...Now I believe that the importance of family and friends and love comes from God...God appointed the time that we will live on earth, and the appointed places that we will live (Acts 17:26))...We love because God first LOVED us (1 John 4:19)...Each one we choose to love is special...That is because each one of us is special, and that makes them special to us...So the one and ones we love are very special to us, because we are each different...
Faith and trust are involved in love...Over time one has faith in the one's they love...Both parties in love, must trust each other...Without trust from both parties, love cannot continue, and love cannot grow...The ones we love the most are the ones we trust the most...
To love someone, we need -well another someone...Love is shared...If you are the only one and the only thing in existence love cannot exist...When St. John said "God is LOVE" (1 John 4:16) this maybe hard to understand -if God were alone...But the Trinity helps us understand this better and that God is LOVE...God is the Father, Jesus is the Son, and we are given the Holy Spirit by the Father...God uses the word "Us" in Genesis...Let "Us" make man in our image (Genesis 1:26)...The plural is used for God two more times in Genesis...
God LOVES His Son, and the Holy Spirit...St. John also tells us that Jesus was with God from the beginning (John 1:1-2)...Love cannot exist without another...Therefore, love then has to be shared...Love is something one wants to share...Love is sharing something significant...Love is about participation and participating with someone...God's Love and His type of LOVE is, I believe, a little, if not a lot, different from our earthly love... Love means completely giving of yourself (all the time each and everyday) to the one you love...I believe that God can do this, but men and women have trouble with the loving completely and loving all the time part -God does not have these troubles...And since God is LOVE and LOVE comes from God, love requires faith, a least some faith...You have faith in the one and ones you love, that they will do things in a trusting, faithful, and loving way...God completely understands all things, so Complete Understanding is LOVE...
God has put love in our hearts, at all times...This feeling, however, is not always the constant strong feeling you have, let's say, when you first met the love of your life...And about this feeling of love, love makes us somehow feel good...Love makes us feel better about ourselves and the one and ones we love...And God wants us to love everyone, but this is hard to do...
We know that we can rely on the LOVE God has for us...Because God is LOVE...Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them (1 John 4:16)...
Love does ebb and flow, but it is there...All love feelings do not remain as strong as they were when you do something for the first time or see something or someone for the first time...Your first sunset, you notice maybe spectacular, your first sunrise maybe spectacular, a most beautiful thing...As you see more and more sunsets and sunrises they may seem lesser than they originally were...This is to be expected...So we must remember in love that it too has ebbs and flows...But love like your first sunrise or your last sunset is still a most beautiful and spectacular thing...So is your love for another...If or when we realize, we are in one of the down sides of an ebb and flow, we might think of God...Because God is LOVE...God is always LOVE...He always LOVES us...His Son teaches us, that He can always renew us...Behold, I make all things new (Revelations 21:5)...Sometimes we need renewing or this renewal process from Him...Sometimes our love relationships need this renewal process of His, to keep love alive and strong...So faith plays a part (if not all) of loving relationships...
Love is responsible for much of the happiness we have in our lives...When we have the happiest times in our lives, love is in our hearts...When we are at the lowest points in our lives, less love maybe felt in our hearts...When we accomplish our greatest feats in life, we want to share it with someone...When we are at our happiest moments, or at a very high point in our lives, we want someone to share those feelings with...We really do look around after a successful accomplishment wanting someone to share in that moment...We look around to hug someone or to say something to someone about the accomplishment...We want to share that feeling...We might say, we want to celebrate that feeling of happiness, that feeling of goodness (that we are feeling and experiencing)...We want to share our feelings of Love with someone close...When something good has happened to someone we are close to, we want to share our feelings with them...Sometimes, an impromptu response, is to hug someone after a feeling of elation...If you are by yourself (and you have this feeling of elation) you might be looking around for someone to hold or hug or get close to...So love is about sharing of many things, including yourself and your feelings...
God has made us to share our feelings...Love is not a singular feeling...Love maybe described as really two desires...We have an innate desire to need someone, to want someone to love... Then we have a desire to be loved, by someone else...We want to love, and we want to be loved...When you love someone you are not thinking internally and about yourself...Love and lovers think more externally...People in love are thinking about others...
When we are at our lowest points in life, we need another one...It is not good to be alone (Genesis 2:18)...Someone to be with during troubled times is a good thing...Support is necessary...Love is necessary during our suffering times...We need to share our sad times too...Love is sharing and love is giving to others, and love is caring and merciful...This complexity of love is one of the reasons I think Jesus teaches that love always shows mercy...When one is down or suffering (and needs mercy) Jesus teaches us to love them...He uses the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) to teach us that love and mercy are very much related...
If we are the only person in the world, and there is no God, what is love?...Without another or others, what is love?...Without the ability to share our feelings with someone else, what is love?...
Jesus furthers His Father's importance of love...The Ten Commandments can be summed up in love...Jesus tells us to love God...Then He tells us to love our neighbor...These are the two greatest commandments...Jesus and His teachings on and about love are the basis and foundation of all relationships...Someone in love does not leave the one or ones they love all alone...And someone in love does not forsake the one or ones they love...Love is linked in the greatest commandments to God and neighbor...So love is all about relationships with God and someone else...And Jesus wants us to love all of our neighbors...The more we love the better...
Jesus' Father is LOVE...His disciple John learned this about love from Jesus, and that is because God is LOVE (1 John 4:16)...In John 13:34-35, Jesus give us another and new commandment, when He says, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another...By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."...Jesus even teaches us to love our enemies (Luke 6:35)...To love another, we must be merciful...Jesus expects us to be merciful, and even to love our enemies...He wants us to love everyone...
Love is forgiving...Love is shared...Love is not selfish...Jesus teaches, he who forgives little, loves little...To love much, we must learn to forgive much...Since love is freely given, love and forgiveness require some sacrifice...At times, when we love, we must give up a part of ourselves (something we want or want to do for the one we love), and give to the one we love...We must allow the one we love, to do what they want to do, to let them grow - to let love grow...If we do not agree with what the one or ones we love, or it is not in line with us or our way of thinking, then we feel our sacrifice is more...In terms of when we forgive someone, we sometimes feel we have given up something...A part of us in love and in forgiveness is given in these sacrifices for love...This is a part of love and part of life, as Jesus teaches...When we understand what Jesus did for us when He was on earth, we may get a better understanding of this sacrifice type thinking...Jesus taught us to help others, serve others, to forgive others, and to love others...And when we understand this sacrifice that was made, then we see that His sacrifice and our sacrifices, are a part of love...Jesus teaches us that there is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends...
As one thinks about forgiveness, it shows us that there is not perfect love on earth...There will be troubles on earth and maybe some trouble with the ones we love...We must recognize and remember this...That is one of the reasons why Jesus teaches forgiveness...There would be no need for forgiving if the ones we loved always did the things we wanted them to do...And in forgiving, I sometimes think of the word owe...It is like saying to the one you love, if you do this for me, then I will do this for you...Love does not owe...Love is free, and is given freely and freely received...And it is freely given and received by both parties...If you think the one or ones you love owes you something, then this is not love...This owing mentality is like having a banker and client relationship, and not a lover and beloved relationship...Therefore, love expects nothing in return for things done on or after an act of forgiveness...
And as we think about love and forgiveness and what Jesus teaches and how He lived...We better understand that love and forgiveness relate much to unselfishness...Love is unselfish...To forgive is a sign of being unselfish...When someone loves another completely they share themselves unselfishly with the one they love...Love is always doing things for the one they love in an unselfish way...
When we think of sharing, forgiveness, sacrifice and being unselfish -these things involve others and not just yourself...Jesus, as you read through the gospels, was always helping others..And if you believe that God is LOVE, and His Son is Jesus, then His Son knows much about LOVE...Love, and having love in one's life, is having others in your life, and helping them...Jesus was always teaching us about helping others...
When one loves someone they have feelings and emotions towards the one they love...In these feelings, one has their personal thoughts on many things...Since two people are involved in a love relationship, then the two people will have different feelings and naturally different thoughts...These feelings and thoughts will not always align and agree with each other...When one does not agree in feelings or thoughts with the one they love, this does not mean they do not love them, it just means one disagrees with the one they love...But love is about sharing these feelings also...In loving relationships one learns to share their feelings and their thoughts...Isn't that what love is -sharing your most intimate thoughts and most intimate feelings with the one you love...
In all that Jesus teaches about forgiveness relating to love, He also teaches us humility...Somehow and in someway humbleness is a part of love...How can it not be, if God is LOVE?...Love may not even be possible without humility...The love Jesus shows for little children and their love of others, He says is an example for us...Little children express their love of others, in a way we can learn from...We need to learn to derive pleasure from others...When we do this, we are more humbled (and not looking inward), and can better show love for others outwardly...
Trust and respect are also a part of love...If one has no trust in the one they love, love cannot thrive and grow...Even having only a little trust and a little respect in the one your love is not the best of loves...When one loves someone with trust and respect they do not try to control them...Love does not demand or manipulate...Love does not dwell on what one is going to receive from their beloved...
Jesus teaches us that love is willing to sacrifice...Love has the ability to help others...And Jesus helped us and our sinning ways...Jesus died for us and tells us in John 15:13 that there is no greater love than this, to lay down his life for friends...Jesus loved us...And Jesus died for our sins, and helped atone for us sinning against His Father...This is a Great LOVE that God and His Son have shown...
St. Paul teaches us "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love" (Galatians 5:6)...As stated earlier there is a strong connection between love and faith...Faith helps those in love and helps us stay in love...
But does love persevere when we are given an injustice, a great injustice?...Jesus teaches us, it must...We sinned against God and He forgives us and LOVES us...Love perseveres through these injustices by forgiveness, grace, and mercy...
Jesus repeatedly teaches us about forgiveness...Forgiveness is so important in love, and forgiveness is not an easy thing to do...But forgiveness is such an important part of love...This is because, love does not keep a record of rights or wrongs...Thus, love forgives...Jesus teaches us that those who forgive little, loves little...If we want to expand our love, we must expand our forgiveness...We must forgive quickly, because love is not a about recording the rights and wrongs of someone in a book, or in our minds, and especially, in our hearts...Being able to forgive is a big part of love...At times in relationships for a relationship to continue, forgiveness must be a part of it...Things are said and done that hurts and damage relationships...Man is flawed...We are human...We will make mistakes...When we think of people's flaws and mistakes, we must be sure to include our own flaw's in our thoughts...Their will be mistakes in almost every relationship, if not all relationships, since we are all flawed...It is in our nature to sin...That is one of the reasons Jesus tells us in His prayer, the LORD's prayer, to forgive others as they sin and make mistakes on and against us...If we are unable to forgive them, then we cannot love very much...Jesus teaches us that when we truly learn to forgive, and forgive a lot -then we then learn to love a lot (Luke 7:47)...God and His Son are always forgiving, each and everyday...Jesus went around in His ministry forgiving others on a regular basis...Jesus understands that forgiveness can take two people who are mad, upset, and feeling out of love and help them get back to love...The power of forgiveness can bring two very upset people back into the love they once had...When you refuse to forgive someone, how can you love him or her (the one you don't forgive)?...You do not love very much if you just had a fight and after awhile forgive them...Without forgiveness one cannot move on in life...Jesus takes this forgiveness concept further and wants us to forgive everyone and forgive them many times, even if they sin against us more than once...And this is not easy...Since sin is our nature, then we must learn to forgive, to be able to love...As earlier stated, things are said and done that hurts relationships...These hurts can even permanently damage a loving relationship...Only true forgiveness that Jesus teaches, can get those relationships back to where they need to be...Forgiveness, as Jesus teaches, gets us back to love, and back in love...
The years of time has changed many things…Many things have changed in what we call progress…New technologies, bigger buildings, bigger cities, more of many things…Lots more technology and new technology...But one thing has not changed…Man’s heart and how he feels about his relationships...Love is not finite...Love is infinite...Love has not changed…Love will not change...Love is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow...
As St. Paul penned these words to the church in Corinth, they were struggling with division, rumors, some fighting, and strife...These problems were on his mind as he wrote these great love verses...And in St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians lies some of the most beautiful passages in the Bible -and they are about love…He wanted the church to be inspired...He wrote these words to the Corinthians, because love inspires...Written over two thousand years ago, St. Paul's definition of love still stands…St. Paul knows LOVE and the LOVE of God...St. Paul says and knows that love perseveres... Love perseveres when we are young and even as we continue to age and mature...Love perseveres when we are overwhelmed...Love perseveres through all kinds of troubles...It perseveres through divisions, rumors, fighting, and strife...The church of Jesus' words and love lives on...
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
LOVE
1 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. 2 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. 3 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.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part,10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
St. Paul writes if we are given a gift or a great talent from God, and can understand all the mysteries of life,
And have all knowledge of life and are very, very smart, but do not have love -we have nothing…
Without LOVE and someone to share our life, St. Paul teaches us that our lives are not a full or abundant life...
He says if we get our hope from God and He gives us a passion and a zeal to live on and on, but if we do not have love, we have nothing…
And if we could get everything we would ever want, and we give everything we have to the poor and work to help the poor everyday, but do not have love in our life, our life will be little and somewhat purposeless…
LOVE is many things as St. Paul writes and what Jesus teaches us -they include:
Love is patient,
Love is kind,
Love is freely given,
Love is not rude,
Love is not sarcastic,
Love is not self-seeking,
Love is not controlling,
Love is not easily angered,
Love is obedient,
Love does not envy,
Love does not boast,
Love does not take for granted,
Love does not owe,
Love does not demand,
Love does not hold on to anger,
Love does not delight in evil,
Love keeps no records of rights or wrongs,
Love rejoices in Truth….
Love always shares,
Love always protects,
Love always trusts,
Love always perseveres,
Love always helps,
Love always listens,
Love always forgives,
Love always has faith,
Love comforts,
Love is always merciful,
Love is always gracious,
Love freely gives,
Love gives us hope,
Love never fails…
Where there are words and languages, the words and languages will eventually be stilled…
Where there is knowledge, that knowledge will one day cease…
On earth God gives us only a limited amount of what is and what will be...He also only gives us a limited amount of time on earth...
He also only gives us a limited amount of knowledge on who He is -God alone is Complete…God understands everything completely...
Complete Understanding is LOVE...
But throughout our lives we see and will see and have many things...And God gives us all these different things,
and the most important thing He gives us is love...God gives us LOVE…
When we are young, we talk like children, we think like children, and we reason like children…
When we become mature we put away our childish ways and then many years will have gone by…
And when we are older, we see nothing but a poor and older man’s reflection in the mirror…
I have learned some things from God over my life and there are still many things I will never understand,
but if we are faithful, and hope in the LORD we will have learned the three most important things on earth…
The most important three things in life are faith, love, and hope…
And the greatest of these, and the greatest thing in life, is LOVE…LOVE helps give our lives have meaning...LOVE helps
give our lives purpose...GOD is LOVE...
These verses, or at least some of these verses are often spoken at weddings...Like the older one looking and reflecting in the mirror, we must at times reflect on our love for others...We mature and know more now than we did when we were just children...St. Paul tells us what love is and what love is not...Love does not keep score of rights and wrongs...Love does not keep score on anything...There is no scoring in love, because love is not a game...
Your love fulfills the one you love...It helps complete them...The love from the one you love helps complete you...When you help complete someone, you are in a sense in them and a part of them, the two become one (Mark 10:7-8 and Genesis 2:24)...Love connects us to God...We have the Spirit of God in us, and are a part of God, and He a part of us...Your love builds the one you love up...Your love helps the one you love grow...Love focuses more on the one and ones you love more than it does on yourself...And when one is in love there may be negative times, but over time love is a very positive experience...Love is uplifting...Love does not empty or tear down or wear one down...Love is nurturing and makes one feel good about oneself...And love builds up their beloved...
As you read these things of love, one thinks of the Father and Son, and is easier to understand because the Father and Son are by their very nature(s) Love...We cannot know God completely, He is eternal...God is above and beyond nature...We can only know a small part of God, only a small slice of Him...That is because He is infinite...Our interests and other things we like can and do can get in the way of our learning more about our LORD...Things in a busy life can become hectic...God requires our attention and our seeking Him...The people we love require our attention, or we can drift from those we love...We get busy and take some of our best things (in our lives) for granted...We may drift from Him...We can also drift from the one and ones we love, if we constantly take them for granted...We do not want to be complacent and take any love for granted...We should at times look back and remember what was said our weddings and to our loved one...When our thoughts go from being in love to trying to stay in love, we should reflect on our past love...We also should read and reread St. Paul's 1 Corinthians 13:1-13...It is good for our relationship, and with those we love -and with God... Again, we should look to God...God is pure LOVE...He always LOVES us...
St. John wrote these words about God and LOVE:
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 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. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 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.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
We love and know about love because God LOVED us first...LOVE has always existed, because God has always existed...LOVE is Infinite...When we know what LOVE is, we must remember where it comes from...LOVE comes from GOD...God is LOVE...God sent Jesus to us is a great sign of LOVE...Jesus did not sin...We sin and we sinned...Jesus came for us, and died for our sins, not His sins -He had no sins in Him...God is always forgiving...He has forgiven everyone of us for our sins, because of His Son...God has forgiven us in the past, present, and the future...God has forgiven a multitude of sins and our sins...When we realize our flaws, and our own sins, then we better understand the LORD's prayer and what it is to forgive others...Knowing that we sin and are forgiven, should make it a little easier for us to forgive...God is forgiving...He forgives us...He is always forgiving...Therefore, He can Love us...If we cannot forgive, we can love only a little...Jesus cared for us so much that He died for us...That is forgiving...And His Father cares so much for us that He sent His One and Only Son to die for us...That is quite a Father, who would send His Only Child to die for someone...
Love is both an internal and external thing...Love is not only a feeling that we have internally, but love is also the way we externally treat others...Jesus teaches us about both the internal heart in love and on the external treating of others (in loving our enemies)...Love is a one on one relationship, and so is the treatment of others...You may say you love a group or class of many, but what you probably mean is that you love some or many individuals in that group or class, individually...There are probably some members in that group or class you might not like or do not even have any feelings towards...So you love some or many of the individuals of the group, and therefore (you) say, you love the total group...And if you just happen to love everyone in the group or class, in reality you love each one of them individually...
Jesus knows Love is what connects us...Love connects us to each other...Love gets us into the kingdom of heaven...This internal feeling of love is tied to the way we treat others externally...When we love someone we feel in love (internally) and treat the one we are in love with the right way (externally)...We do not treat them consistently in a bad way, because this would not be love...Love is both the feeling and how we treat those we are in love with...Jesus wants us to treat everyone this way -even our enemies...The greatest commandment He gave was to Love God, and to Love our neighbor...This sums up all the Old Testament, He tells us...
Love is the way, and the path of life...As stated earlier love is a one on one relationship...This is how God loves us...He loves us each personally and individually...Even though we are all alike, we are each different and unique individuals...God loves us each as an individual, like His one and only child...God is Love...Since He is Love, what else can He do...
God gives us faith, hope, and love...He also gives us a fourth attribute, truth...We must have truth to have love...Truth and goodness and righteousness are the roots, and love is their fruit...For the fruit of the Holy Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth...God is the truth, and the way to life...God sent His Son to testify to this truth, and everyone on the side of truth listens to Him (John 18:37-38)...
So since Love is the way and the path to life, Love connects to the Truth...God's path is to eternal life...God is our path...God is the lamp unto our feet...God is Love...He Loves us so much that He had His Son die for us and our sins...
God so Loved us and the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that anyone who believes in Him shall have eternal life (John 3:16)...Jesus died for us, not because we were good or righteous, but because God is Love and He Loves us...Jesus died for sinners...When we think about this, most of us, if not all of us would have a very hard time dying for someone who is very righteous...Jesus did not die for me, because I am righteous, He died for me and I am a sinner...This tells us about the Love God has for us...The very act of God becoming a Man and coming to earth shows His LOVE for us...
Love is caring and concerned...Love is caring more for someone than you do for yourself...St. Paul sums up what love is with the above verses...He also talks about this connectivity of love in our lives...Even if I have all the knowledge in the world, even if I can solve all the mysteries of life made known to me, and even if I have all the money in the world, if I do not have someone to love and to share my love and my life with, I have nothing and I am nothing...
Jesus is perfect and knows perfect LOVE...Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, and not to expect anything in return (that is perfect LOVE)...Jesus being perfect, knows His Father is Love, and teaches about perfect Love...In perfect Love and in heaven, we may not need forgiveness anymore...For when one is perfect they will not make mistakes, and therefore need forgiving...The cross is LOVE and Jesus is LOVE...Jesus could at anytime walked away from the Romans and the suffering and His death...But He allowed the cross, His suffering, and His death because of His LOVE...
Jesus knows, and just as St. Paul writes, that love is not self seeking...I think this teaching is better understood by us in the love we have, for our child or our spouse...We love our child and spouse, and will do anything for them, and we expect nothing in return...That is love...This is how God LOVES us...We are made complete by His LOVE...
In the Gospel According to Matthew, Jesus gives us the Greatest Commandments:
Matthew 22:34-40
The Greatest Commandment
34 Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:
36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Jesus says all the Books of the Law and the Books of the Prophets are about love...The Bible is all about love...The Greatest Commandments are about love: To Love God, and to Love Neighbor...