1 John 4:7-21
God’s Love and Ours
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.
Matthew 22:37-40
Jesus Teaches about Love
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.”
John 13:34-35
Jesus Teaches about Love
34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."
Philippians 2:5-8
Jesus Humbled Himself
5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death —
even death on a cross!
Psalm 150:1-6
Praise the LORD
1 Praise the Lord.
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
praise him with resounding cymbals.
6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord.
When I first read the Bible, I had a hard time thinking why should I praise God...I got much of my thinking (or so I thought) from the Old Testament and the Psalms and their constant use of the words praising Him...My personality and my thinking (for some reason) thinks that God is in some ways is teaching us about pride, if we are to worship and then praise Someone (in some of the verses of the Old Testament)...I misread the Psalm praise verses...The authors of the Bible were inspired by Him and His Love...And after they learned from and about Him, they praised Him...
God sent His Son for us and to us in the four gospels...One of the reasons God sent His Son was for us to learn some things about Him...After I read and studied the New Testament, I found no arrogance, no pride whatsoever, no seeking of fame, no glory, or honor seeking, no reputation (in the beginning) in the Messiah that He sent...In fact, after reading the gospels many times, I find it hard, when you put what Jesus says into the proper context of the entire Bible, to find any pride at all in Him or His Father...Even His opposition, and others who call Jesus just a prophet, or just a good Teacher do not label Him arrogant or One who is seeking honor and glory...
Jesus teaches humility at its very-very best...He is the Most Humble One...St. Paul writes to the Philippians, that even though Jesus is the very nature of God, and is therefore Divine, He did not even think in the terms of being equal to His Father...This is something that He could have done at anytime in His life...Rather, He made Himself, nothing more and took on a servant's role (very average and common in walking and teaching His fellow man)...So the One that God sent to us made Himself a servant, and served others...He even humbled Himself to His own death (for anytime, He could have done a miracle to keep Him from the pain, He was to endure) and torture on the cross...This only shows Love and humility...
To have love and to share love, there has to be free choice...If someone says I demand that you love me, more than likely, you will not love them...If God would have said "Love Me and Love Me right now", more than likely, we would not love Him...Free will and love and His Love cannot be demanded and be forced...He knows this...If Jesus would have demanded and forced His disciples to Love, that teaching would probably not have worked (I use the word probably, after all He is Divine)...Jesus taught in His lessons (in an indirect way) about free choice...His disciples could have believed in what He said, or not what He said...Jesus taught us in a mild and meek way...Jesus did not seek praise, fame, popularity, honor, or glory while He was on earth...But because of His teachings theses things happened...He is the most famous, popular, and honored Man ever to walk the earth...By knowing this we should also give Him glory and praise...
His Father taught Him these things...God who is in control of everything, still gives us our own personal choices to make every second of everyday...He give us free will...God never demanded Love (let alone praise) from His people, the Hebrews and the Jews...In the Old Testament God's people were often sinning with idols, and other types of behavior...This was because they had free choice...
St. Frances of Assisi in the middle part of his prayer in Praises to God given to Brother Leo said "You are Good, all Good, supreme Good, Lord God, living and true...You are love; You are wisdom; You are humility."...Goodness, Love, wisdom, and humility are linked...
Love comes first from God...God created and originated Love...What is in God's heart is Love, because God is Love...He Loves in a different way than mankind loves...And one of the reasons is because He is very different...He is Spirit...He wants us to love Him, as He Loves us...When we see and believe Love came first from God and that God is Love, then praising Him is much easier...Jesus, the Son of God, is the Messiah whom God sent to love and save us...He did not demand or force Love on His disciples or anyone...Jesus teaches us much about His Father...Like God, He loved His disciples first, then after He died He was praised by them...Love comes first from His Father...When you read through all of the gospels and New Testament, never does Jesus demand Love from His disciples or anyone...He does give His disciples a new command, and that is to love one another and each other -just as He has Loved them...As the Son Loves His disciples, His Father Loves us...Our Father in heaven is the Most Humble of Spirits...His yoke is easy and His burden is Light...He is meek...He wants us to seek Him and love Him...We want to praise Him, because we see that He is not looking for or demanding praise -He is asking us to love Him...By knowing that He created me out of Love, I want to proclaim my praise to Him...Praise the LORD...