Real Love

There was a song in the '70's by the Bee Gees called  "How deep is your love?".  God too, wants to know how deep your love is.

I've said many times to people that there's a difference between our human love here on Earth, and the love of God. Most Christians have heard the term "Agape love", and know there are at least four different Greek root words for love used in the New Testament, as C.S. Lewis wrote about in his book "The Four Loves".

What initiated this blog for me though, was thinking about an apparent contradiction of scripture that my wife once asked me about. At that time i didn't give her the answer to it, because my brain is aging and it tends to forget things. She asked "If Jesus asked Mary not to touch Him because He hadn't yet ascended to the Father, then why was Thomas allowed to?" The answer may lie with what the nature of love is where God is concerned, and how He wants us to better understand it.

I hate to go here, because detractors of the validity of scripture love to try and use it as a cop-out objection and reason to distrust the authority and accuracy of God's word, but i believe the meaning of some verses in the Bible, are "lost in translation". But the reason i think it's not a legitimate stance for the opposer of God's word, is i believe it's by design that some concepts are deliberately buried as treasures for the diligent to uncover, and that all of the real vital issues of salvation and knowledge of God are clear enough for children to understand. God is able to obscure just a few things in His word just enough to keep it interesting for those of us who daily keep our fascination with the Bible alive, and in typical God-like fashion those treasures are just as wonderful to us as when we first realised the foundational things of our faith, yet nothing a person needs to know in order to grow in their knowledge of God, will be hid from them. (Do you know what I'm sayin'?)

An example of an apparent contradiction like that is the  "Answer (not) a fool according to his folly.."  verses in Proverbs 26:4,5.

I've learned that when i come across and passage or verse that doesn't make sense, one thing i'm quick to consider is that the way I'm reading it as it's rendered, may not convey what the author was really trying to say. There's something below the surface you don't catch at first glance. (And again i strongly suggest that God knew what He was doing , and the ineptitude of men could never have thwarted what God wanted to accomplish...He's God.) If there were any inconsistencies with how the Bible was written, translated, or put together, they surely happened under the watchful and providential eye of God who had a master plan at play none of us could have ever imagined. It is also important for us to remember that about Him when we struggle with the meaning and nature of our own trials, and to remember Paul's words "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." Rom 8:28.

It's my feeling now that Jesus saying "touch Me not for I am not yet ascended.." in John 20:17, has a significance to it beyond what it sounds like on the surface. Could Jesus have been really saying "do not embrace me with Earthly affection now, it is a deeper Agape love that you will learn about after My ascension and subsequent return as your Holy Spirit Comforter" ...or something like that? It would explain why Thomas was allowed to touch the holes in his hands and side but she wasn't allowed to touch Him. God wants us to grow and understand nature of His love. Agape love. The love that Jesus Christ had for the world when He allowed us all to crucify Him on a cross. The world understands "love" as something sentimental and touchy feely. It invokes feelings and tears, warmth and emotion, but all of those in reality are effects and consequences of real love, as the Lord intended it. He is the Author of love. All love comes from Him. We are born into the world with the capacity for it, but if a muslim terrorist doesn't express love for us, it's not because he doesn't feel it, it's because he hasn't learned to demonstrate it. Our world is spinning towards chaotic destruction for that reason. Mankind has falsely believed that all people have good and bad in them and that "love" will somehow prevail and triumph. That the good guys will win in the end. God has told us something far different. He has warned us , that left unchecked by a Spiritual guidance He desires us to have with Him, we will indeed eventually come to a destructive end. In other words, without His hand to guide, we will not just naturally work things out for the best. We simply cannot do it. The truth rather is that the evil in us will get stronger and prevail. There isn't enough "natural love" inside us, if you will, to help us survive.

It's time to surrender. To commit ourselves to a Creator who has already shown Himself to be more than trustworthy and caring for us. It's time to come to a place before God in our hearts, where we will admit we can't make it on our own. Where we confess our need for Him, and for His love. Love is not a built-in, genetic, innate program in us. We need HIM. His word is our instruction manual. The gospel of Jesus's death,burial, resurrection and ascension is our real life training demonstration module. It teaches us how to do it right. How to love with His kind of love, not ours. We know deep down that love is better than hate. Don't let anyone tell you that you cannot legislate morality, all of our laws in this land are based on God's commandments. Everything you are forbidden to do has to do with harming your neighbor in some way. We know right from wrong, we just have forgotten where right comes from. We've been lied to by the god of this present world that you have it in yourself to love naturally. It's a lie. God is love, and where God is, you find love. Go find Him...His name is Jesus Christ.




Ihr, die ihr diesen Blog lesen aus Deutschland. Ich fühle mich geehrt. Seine meiner bescheidenen Vergnügen in der Lage sein, diese Gedanken für Sie Aktien von hier in den USA Bitte zögern Sie nicht unten kommentieren oder um etwas bitten, was die Bibel sagt, oder was ich stütze meine Meinungen zu, würde ich lieben, von Ihnen zu hören und reagiert sofort. Gott segne Sie.



Вы, кто читает этот блог из России. Для меня большая честь. Ее мое скромное удовольствие, чтобы иметь возможность поделиться этими мыслями с вами отсюда в США Пожалуйста, не стесняйтесь комментировать на дне или спросить что-нибудь о том, что Библия говорит, или то, что я основываю свое мнение, я хотел бы услышать от вас, и ответить сразу. Да благословит вас Бог.