Remember Love
"We hate what he [God] hates, but we have forgotten how to love." -- Bro. James Roth, Sunday morning when speaking of the Ephesians (Revelation 2) who had lost their first love.
Outward obedience to the "thou shalt not"s may often be easier than outward obedience to the "thou shalts." It is easy to have no obvious idols in my house, harder to go lend a hand or an ear to my "neighbor."
Inward obedience may be similar. It may be easier to not covet my neighbor's house than it is to really, truly love my neighbor as (or more than) I love myself. (I am here referring to agape love, which I will define as a heart-based desire for the absolute good of another even at my own expense. This love is not based on spontaneous feelings that arise from my perception of good in a person. It will be present no matter what a person does or is.) Now, I wonder if the difference in ease has something to do with the power required to not covet as compared to the power required to really, truly from the bottom of my heart love my neighbor. Through psychological methods with no special power from God I could probably train myself to not desire my neighbor's house. I could make up thoughts about how it wasn't worth much anyway, how it would take forever to clean, etc and gradually learn to not want it. Could I use such psychological methods to begin to love my neighbor? Unconditional love is not based on what/who a person is; it is entirely absent from any perception of personal benefit. It seems that the ability to agape-love another comes only from God. This is supported by Scripture as follows:
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." I John 4:7
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." John 13:35
"God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." I John 4:16b
For one to truly love, they must be a child of God. They must tap into God's power and avail themselves of his spiritual blessings - and that doesn't seem to come naturally.
Outward obedience to the "thou shalt not"s may often be easier than outward obedience to the "thou shalts." It is easy to have no obvious idols in my house, harder to go lend a hand or an ear to my "neighbor."
Inward obedience may be similar. It may be easier to not covet my neighbor's house than it is to really, truly love my neighbor as (or more than) I love myself. (I am here referring to agape love, which I will define as a heart-based desire for the absolute good of another even at my own expense. This love is not based on spontaneous feelings that arise from my perception of good in a person. It will be present no matter what a person does or is.) Now, I wonder if the difference in ease has something to do with the power required to not covet as compared to the power required to really, truly from the bottom of my heart love my neighbor. Through psychological methods with no special power from God I could probably train myself to not desire my neighbor's house. I could make up thoughts about how it wasn't worth much anyway, how it would take forever to clean, etc and gradually learn to not want it. Could I use such psychological methods to begin to love my neighbor? Unconditional love is not based on what/who a person is; it is entirely absent from any perception of personal benefit. It seems that the ability to agape-love another comes only from God. This is supported by Scripture as follows:
"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God." I John 4:7
"By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." John 13:35
"God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." I John 4:16b
For one to truly love, they must be a child of God. They must tap into God's power and avail themselves of his spiritual blessings - and that doesn't seem to come naturally.
posted by Claire at 19:18
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