The Love of God vs. the "love" of this world

Love is the very core of our Christian life. Without Love, nothing really matters. It is written in 1 Corinthians 13?

"1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."

Love is greater then tongues.

"2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

Love is greater then prophecy, knowledge and faith.

"3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing."

Love is greater then our actions.

"4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,
5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

Love is powerful.

"8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.
9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part;
10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away."

There is nothing greater then Love.

Not only that, but Jesus teaches us that Love is the very thing that differentiates us from this world.

John 13:35
"35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."


So Love is pretty important? And I'm pretty sure we should talk more about Love!

One thing that called my attention during Valentine's Day is how Love is distorted in this world. It is distorted to the point that you cannot even say it is really Love! I find that Satan has put in our world a "love" to draw people away from God! And through this "love" people try to satisfy each other's needs and become not only attached to one another, but also highly dependent. It is very easy to differentiate between those two "loves" if you know there is a false Love in this world in the first place. Here are some basic differences:

God's Love.............................................World's "love"
Centred and focused on God......Centred and focused on self
Unselfish.....................................................Selfish
Serving..................................................Self-serving
Always satisfies.....................................Never satisfies
Not addictive........................................Highly addictive

This world's "love" is this love that we see in Hollywood movies and in most people in this world. This "love" is imperfect and actually very sinful. There are people that kill other people because of this jealous "love" There are people that hurt themselves and others because of this "love" There are even Christians that are drawn away from God because of this "love" Satan created this "love" to deceive us. I find that emotions are pretty similar to the spiritual world. There is no better way that the enemy can deceive us by making us believe in our emotions as something from God. Some signs that you are being lead astray by this "love" would be:

• Lack of peace and happiness because of the absence of a person, which clearly indicates a dependence on the person (your happiness and hope are based on that person)
• New age concepts that "comes" to you, such as "soul mate" and "follow your heart" (our hearts are imperfect and can fail, we should follow only God).
• You talk a lot about the other person.
• If a person means too much for you.
• If you "love" that person more then others.
• If your "love" is conditional: I "love" you if you do this and that?
  
  If you have even one of those signs, it is very likely that you might not have the all-powerful love of God, which is understandable, since we are not perfect. If you have many of those signs, mainly in a particular relationship, then better examine your heart and see if Satan is deceiving you!
  
  The basic criterion to define those points is based on the question: Does Jesus Love like that?? We should always strive to Love like Jesus Loves, since His Love is our Father's Love, the perfect Love.
  
  Let's go through the points again and see the differences between God's Love and the false "love" Look at each relationship you have with each person, mainly the most serious ones?
  
  I. Centre of attention
  Focus is the very core of a relationship. Basically, you can be focused on God, on the other person or on yourself. If you are focused on God, your relationship might never end. If you are focused on the other person or on yourself, your relationship will almost certainly end or continue in a misery. Be very careful here. Examine your heart with all your attention and be really honest with yourself. If you are in a relationship focused on self, better finish it now rather then suffer a lot later. Since the focus is the very foundation of a relationship, if you have a weak foundation, it will never last. It may sound harsh, but it is better that way.
  
  a) God's Love: Centred and focused on God
  With God's Love, you are always focused on Love Itself, on God Himself. Instead of Loving people by looking at them, you Love them because you can see God's promises for them. When you focus on God, you don't look at the other's imperfections, you look at God's promises. Centring your attention on God also allows you to grow in Faith, Wisdom and Love. With Faith, you see promises rather then problems. With Wisdom, you naturally know what to do, when, where and how, since you have intimacy with God, and He reveals His plans for you and for others.
  
  When you centre your relationship in God, your relationship becomes a blessing to everyone. You yourselves are blessed and those around you will also be blessed.
  
  b) World's "love" Centred and focused on self
  If you focus on others you will see their imperfections and you will have difficulty on Loving them. You won't always agree with them and in a close relationship you might even fight.
  
  If you focus on yourself, the situation is even worse. You can become really selfish and annoying for others. You become more important then others. You also want to be the centre of others?attention.
  
  In a close relationship, it is easy to see if you are focused on each other. If you feel anxious without the presence of the other person, you have the wrong focus. If you feel unhappy and lack of peace without the person, you have the wrong focus.
  
  People think that friendship is a good foundation for a relationship. That is worldly wisdom, not God's. Even if the centre of your relationship is based on friendship, you are still focused on each other, instead of on God. When you focus on God, it is just God. You cannot have two foci at the same time. A relationship that is not focused on God is doomed to finish, since the foundations of the relationship are weak and worldly. Friendship and other things should never be the centre of the relationship, but rather, a consequence of it. The centre is God, the friendship is the consequence of it.
  
  If you have the wrong focus, better finishing the relationship rather then continue and be really hurt in the end. Many people that marry have the wrong focus. ALL people that divorce have the focus on each other. If they don't divorce, they suffer and are always fighting, braking and getting together again?fighting, braking and getting together again?in an on-going cycle of misery. Since the focus is the very foundation of a relationship, better to finish it early, before you get too attached to the other person (which is also a sign of dependent relationship). If you get too attached, it is very likely that you will get very hurt.
  
  It is crucial to examine your heart and be really honest with yourself.
  
  
  II. Relationship
  Here, I'm not talking about the focus of the relationship, but rather the relationship itself. A relationship always happens with a subject and an object. You are the subject and the other is the object. The conjunct of interactions between you and the other person constitutes the relationship as a whole. This section defines the intentions behind your actions in a given relationship. It is our intentions that are being examined here.
  
  a) God's Love: Unselfish
  There is nothing more unselfish then God's Love. God let His Son die for us. There is nothing more unselfish then that. An unselfish relationship with another person will bless not only the two people, but also everyone around you. It will make your relationship pure in motive.
  
  This is the abundance of God's Love - it is for everyone. God Loves everyone of us. His Love is so big that He Himself lives within us, and us within Him. His Love surpasses all understanding. When your Love for one another is unselfish, both of you become a pure vessel of God's Love to the world. What a blessing!!
  
  b) World's "love" Selfish
  Selfishness is easily seen if you treat each other as possessions. Things like "soul mate" and "you mean too much for me" are signs of a selfish relationship. This is a direct consequence of basing your relationship on each other. You become each other's possession. For example, with the "soul mate" thing, the other become your "soul mate" , "the guy/girl meant for you" which clearly denotes possession. When you see the other as a "soul mate" what you are really doing is putting the other in a pedestal and worshiping him/her. You are also "loving" this person more then others, which is actually wrong. Does Jesus Loves one more then the other? Does anyone of us means more for Him then the other? Isn't salvation for everyone? Isn't His Love for everyone that accepts it? He didn't die for only one of us. He Loves every single one of us. Then, should we Love one above the other? May it never be!

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  Again, examine your heart and be really honest with yourself.
  
  
  III. Actions[/I
  Actions are the explicit part of the relationship. It is by our actions that we show our Love.
  
  1 John 3:18
  "8 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth."
  
  Actions bring into light our intentions. But our intentions cannot always be determined by our actions. We are imperfect. We can do something that we call a "mistake" When you do something that hurts someone that you Love, you made a mistake. You thought you were doing something good, but you were doing something bad. Or the other person misunderstood you, assumed something, or took it personally, thus reacting to it in the wrong way.
  
  So our actions are not always in harmony with our intentions, and our intentions cannot be known by our actions. However, our intentions are essential to determine our actions.
  
  a) God's Love: Serving
  Basically: give. And it is not just in the close relationship, but also in every other. Again, it is not something for a couple of people, but for everyone. With God's Love we always put everyone before ourselves.
  
  Philippians 2:3-4
  "3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
  4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.?
  
  God's kind of Love always gives. It is sacrificial: you before me.
  
  1 John 3:16
  ?6 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.?
  
  If you Love that way, you will bless everyone around you.
  
  b) World's "love" Self-serving
  
  The world's "love" say: "me first" It is easy to see if you have this kind of "love" if you limit yourself to one person. You will probably not want to sacrifice yourself to that person. This jealous "love" that possess the other person, this "romantic" "love" is highly self-serving. If you say or show in your actions and motives: "I'm happy with him/her and I don't care about what you feel." Then you probably have this kind of "love".
  
  Again, examine your heart and be really honest with yourself.
  
  
  IV. Satisfaction
  Here we will see how the relationship affects you emotionally and how it satisfies your needs.
  
  a) God's Love: Always satisfies[/I]
  God's Love is absolutely abundant. It has no beginning, nor end. It is not just for everyone, but everyone that has it, is always satisfied. He is always there for you, whenever you need. If you have any problem, He can help you. You will always be happy and satisfied with God.
  
  b) World's "love" Never satisfies
  If your "love" is never satisfied, you are certainly experiencing this world's "love" If in the absence of the other person you feel unhappy or miss him/her too much, it is very likely that you are dependent on the other person and that you are addicted to him/her. You will never be satisfied, since the other person him/herself is also trying to be satisfied by you. This is a very deadly kind of relationship where you can become so dependent in the other person that even when you brake you want to go back, and if you do, it begins all over gain. It is a deadly cycle and it is very unlikely to have an end, unless you definitely finish with the relationship.
  
  
  
  In summary, the "love" of this world is self-centred. It basically makes someone else your god. People become god's to each other. They worship one another and expect each other to be perfect and satisfy all their needs. It is easy to see that, when they say "s/he is meant for me", "s/he is my soul mate"or "we have everything in common". They look to their souls and worship themselves. Even if one person is focused on God, if the other is not, the relationship will eventually finish, because it is imperfect and its basis are weak.
  
  In a Godly kind of relationship, both people are focused on God. They are focused in God within each other. God is within everyone of us. His spirit dwells in us and our spirit is one with His spirit. In a spiritual relationship, both people are focused on God within themselves. They don't focus on their souls, but on their spirits. In this way, they don't become dependent on each other. Instead, they really bless each other and people around them. Be it a serious spiritual relationship where two people get married or a normal fellowship with a believer, we should always seek Him.
  
  God's Love is limitless. It is for everyone. It does not possess. It is abundance and it never ends. The "love" of this world is limited and makes people co-dependent, gods to one another.
  
  1 John 4:16
  "6 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him."
  
  How to develop your relationship with God and your fellowship with brothers:
  There are some basic things we should look for in a spiritual relationship:
  • Intimacy: which is basically to spend time with someone. With God, He is in us, so we can easily be intimate. It is not just talking with someone, but mainly being in the presence of someone else. It is through our actions that we show Love, not through our words.
  • Listening: Many times it is more important to listen to someone then to simply talk with that person. We always need to be listening and trying to understand each other.
  • Caring: To be emotionally involved with one another and being there for each other.
    Interdependence:[/B] I Love you, you Love me. I serve you, you serve me. We don't need each other but we enjoy being together.
  • Giving: Giving is the way our Love express most clearly. It doesn't even need to be something physical, or something big, just an expression of our Love.
  • Forgiving: We are not perfect. When we do a mistake, we should forgive each other. Anyone is perfect besides God, anyone could have done the same mistake.
  Most of it is intimacy. With intimacy, all of the others are very easily fulfilled. Intimacy is not just to know each other well, but also to spend time with the other person. Again, Love is shown more into actions then simple words:
  
  1 John 3:18
  Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.?
  
  Apart from Loving God, it is also by loving our brothers that we Love God:
  
  1 John 3:17
  "7 But whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?"
  
  1 John 4:20
  "20 If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen."
  
  But when we focus on God, it is much easier to Love our brothers, since we are not seeing the sins and imperfections of our brothers, but God Himself, within our brother. This is the secret for Loving without judging. The same thing for loving your enemies. You don't see the sins and imperfections of your enemies, you see the promises God has for them. That's how you can easily Love your enemies.
  
  1 John 4:12
  "2 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us."

 

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Sorry to post it again. The other one was weird and hard to understand...

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I'd have to argue that actions speak louder then words... and the if the Bible is 'accurate' then the actions do not remind me of 'love'. At the very least I'd say that the love is conditional.

 

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If God is love and Satan is hate (I presume, or would hate be lack of love?) then could one tap in to the other?

 

truthseeker,

Love cannot be the ultimate goal. Love, it seems, is like just one mechanism that can be used to help achieve something more.

For example if we reach a state where everyone loves everyone else, then what? What then do we do with our lives? The value of love is that it can remove unproductive friction and tensions and allow human progress to proceed at a faster pace.

If all that God can offer is love then that is not enough, it implies a stagnant state.

A lot of these types of quotes are nothing really to do with love. These are usually the natural result of civilized intelligent maturity. We don't need religion to teach us this.

 

Persol,

What is a greater expression of love: to say "I love you" or to kiss the other person?

It is also written:

Luke 6:45
"45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart."

The Bible doesn't say that one speak louder then the other, it just says that if we really Love someone, we will show it in our actions:

James 2:15-18
"15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,
16 and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?
17 Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.
18 But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

Now, since you probably don't know the Bible well enough to make the connection between faith and Love (I'll to write about that too...) then I show you this other scripture:

Galatians 5:6
"6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love."

So behind the faith in James 2, there is Love. But without the Love, the faith would be worthless:

1 Corinthians 13:2
"2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing."

And conditional "love" would be self-centered:

Philippians 2:3-4
"3 Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;
4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. "

If your love is conditional, then aren't you looking to your own interests?

 

notme2000,

God is Love, Satan is fear.

1 John 4:18
"18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. "

 

Ok, so could God experience fear or Satan experience love?

 

Cris,

The Wisdom of the Bible is that it recognizes that whatever we have or whoever we are, all that we really have is each other. So the real meaning of the Bible is that it teaches us how to have a healthier relationship with each other, since all that we really have is that relationship.

You can argue that a rich man has a lot more then a poor man. However, that is really not true. The rich man keeps all his wealth during his whole life. He works everyday and keeps all his wealth to himself. One day, he dies. What he had gained? Nothing. Of course, if a rich man gives his riches to his friends, spending a lot of money on them, he will be happy and his riches will be meaningful and worth a lot. But even a poor man can give a little flower to a poor girl and still be as rich as the rich man, cause the true wealth that we have is our Love for one another.

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Imagine if everyone in the world was filled with the fullness of Love? Imagine if everyone would Love one another. Would there be people killing each other? Would there be people starving? Would there be people unhappy? Would people kill themselves because of the complete meaninglessness of their lifes? No. Only God, who is Love, can really satisfy us. Without Love our lifes are worthless. Without Love we really have nothing. That's how important Love really is.

That is the real beauty of the True Love. Not two people in a romantic gibberish state, but True Love for one another.

What we do with our lifes? Enjoy it, of course! We won't be here forever. Life is beatiful when it is full of Love.

WHat is really abundant in Love is Its limitlessness. There is no stagnant state in Love. Love Itself works through giving and receiving, through sharing things with one another. This is not stagnant, is it?

Don't look at Love as something rigid that simply is. Love implies movement. Its is "I Love you" and "You Love me" It is reciprocal, it is always there, but it is always in movement.

Your "maturity" is controlled. You have to control it, in order to make it work. With Love, it is not so. If you Love, you will be patient. If you Love, you will be kind. Those things will happen naturally within you, instead of being imposed by a law or something like that. That is the superiority of Love compared to law: you don't do it because you have to, you do it because you want to.

 

Can man love God as much as God loves man?

 

IF that was all God could offer then yes it would be a stagnant state...............however, God can and DOES offer a lot more than this..................He also offers joy, peace, strength, solid friendship, and all of eternity (salvation)..and thats just to name a few!

 

truthseeker,

Why is that more important than anything else? And why is that wisdom?

Fine. I already know how to achieve good relationships with others. Now what?

In terms of wealth that would be true.

Yes it is.

Some might but others will do otherwise.

It's his choice, why would that be a problem? If you work you expect payment.

Just like the poor man, except the rich man has had more opportunitis to have a happier life and make many others happy.

The wiser man doesn't give his money away but uses it to show other people how to be more successful.

But if you are poor then that is all you can do. If you are rich then you can also help others less fortunate. The love expressed by a rich person need not be any less than that of a poor man.

I think your analogy didn't work very well. You are trying to show that love is more important than financial wealth. For some that might be true but for others it isn't so important.

It is an infantile utopian dream.

Cancer still kills and makes many people extremely unhappy. Love doesn't solve that problem. Medical science is needed for that problem.

A country with an inadequate agricultural and economic system where people cannot provide for themselves still results in starvation. Love doesn't solve that. That problem takes science, technology, and intelligence.

Deranged psychopaths are still going to kill. No amount of love will cure them. Science is needed for that problem.

And unless you show people something more substantial than just love then people will still see life as ultimately meaningless and will commit suicide together.

Love will help in some instances but it is far from the panacea that you are trying to imply. Love is just one aspect of life and while it is important for many it is far from an essential ingredient to a meaningful life. Which pretty much means that if God=love, then he is just a side issue.

Life can also be beautiful without love. There are many recluses in the world and those that prefer their own company. Loving relationships are not the essential feature of life that you envisage.

?

If that is all there is then that is stagnant. Life must be more than just love.

No Nelson, it comes as a natural result of real life experience. Like having learnt to drive a car, your understanding of what works in life becomes instinctual. You are not there yet otherwise you would have little difficulty understanding what I mean.

That comes with experience, it is not solely a matter of love, it doesn't even require love.

You are guessing. Give it time.

Laws have nothing to do with this. You do not yet understand.

 

new life.

I already, have joy, peace, strength, and solid friendships, all without the help of God.

And immortality is something I am working on. But the only way God offers immortality is through the fantasy of an afterlife.

So show me something that relates to real life that requires a God.

 

notme2000,

No.

Yes. But probably only in Heaven.

 

New Life,

Those things are implied in Love. Since He Loves us, He will give all those things.

He wants us to have all the fullness of Him:

Ephesians 3:14-19
"14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name,
16 that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man,
17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
18 may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. "

Galatians 5:22-25
"22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. "

 

Cris,

What else do we have? Apparently, we are totally alone in this little planet in the middle of nowhere. What else do we have?

It is wisdom because you don't realize this, although it is right in front of you. And above that, it is wisdom because it is beneficial to you and to everyone.

*sigh
Cris... die and be born again... and I mean spiritually, of course...

...

If I want I can go to Africa and feed every starving people there in the same way Jesus fed 5 thousand. I just don't do it because it is not my time to do this yet. You don't need to have money in order to help people, all that you need is faith.

If you work every day of your life and do nothing else, that is pretty meaningless.

No it is not.

Totally wrong. Faith working through Love already saved many people from cancer. Medical scinece can do nothing. Medical science can only keep us alive, it can't solve the problems.

Again, Jesus fed 5000 with Love. We can do the same.

Science so far made everything worse. It never solved any problem. There would be no psychopaths if the system would work. Psychopats are the very consequence of this selfish and greddy system that humanity created.

Love is abundant. It gives you everything that you need and MORE.

Love working through faith accomplish all things.

I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT MARRIAGE AND THIS KIND OF THING! I'm talking about simple Love! It is just Love! Doesn't even need to be with someone else there!

That REALLY doesn't surprise me...

Life IS Love!

I already said that before, but wisdom has absolutly nothing to do with experience. With God you just need to ask. There is no waiting.

Ok then....
Then there are no people more arrogant, unkind, umpatient and stupid then children, cause they have no experience at all!

No I'm not guessing. I have it. You don't.

No. It is you that cannot comprehend that the planet doesn't need to do any effort in order to go around the sun...:bugeye:

 

truthseeker,

You don't do it because you can't. If it was that easy it would have been done.

Depends if that is what you wanted to do and whether you enjoyed it or not.

PROVE IT.

Tell that to the many millions of people who died because anti-biotics had not been developed.

Prove it. It is a myth. How can you do it, he was meant to have been a god? Are you claiming that you are a god now?

You must be joking, right?.

Try supporting yourself on love alone. You'll starve to death.

Dream on.

 

Cris,

Saddly, even Christians prefer to use money in such situations. I'm more radical then that...
No... I don't go because I'm going to high-school now...

Even so, it would be pretty meaningless. Life is meaningful when we can affect the lifes of others. If we don't, it would be like if we had never existed.

What do you want? Do you want a document from a doctor saying that they don't know how someone was cured? Maybe I can get that... But will you believe if I show you?

Everyone dies someday. Again, our medical science can only keep us alive. It doesn't do anything better then that.

Well, I can certainly say that God lives within me! And that with Him nothing is impossible...!

Certainly not...

Not really... Of course, I cannot test God. But if I were poor, since I have the faith, I wouldn't starve.

How were you born?

 

So God cannot experience fear? So I can do something that God can't? And if God CAN fear, what does he fear?

 

The kind of fear you're talking about is existential fear, which is from lack of faith (knowledge and trust in God's love). God does not have to fear anything.

Why did Peter "sink like a rock"? Because he saw everything that was threatening him, and instead of persevering in faith, he doubted.

We know fear because we have reason to fear - we have come into knowledge of good and evil, and have no defense against evil. That is why some people fear death - they can't escape it. Others are fearless - they aren't afraid of anything that doesn't directly threaten them. But at some point lack of fear becomes like ignorance, like a child who doesn't know snakes are dangerous.

Fear of God is different. It is respect that comes from knowing God, and a fear that "shuns evil" and seeks wisdom.

Prov.2
3 and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
4 and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom,
and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.