Month: January 2010

Good Morning!

“Love is a many splendored thing”, but it certainly is not “nature’s way of giving a reason to be living”. This famous 1955 song/ movie missed the mark about what true love is.

Today, we’ll begin looking at what love really IS. Let’s look at 1^st Corinthians 13:4. I want to take the verse in small individual bites and savor them. Here are three versions:

1^st Corinthians 13:4a (NKJV) Love suffers long…
1^st Corinthians 13:4a (NASB) Love is patient…
1^st Corinthians 13:4a (ESV) Love is patient…

Okay,  please let us look at the words “suffers long/ longsuffering” and “patient”. And when I say look, I mean we’ll look at the original ancient NT Greek word/ definition behind our modern English word/ definition. There really is so much to learn by going back to the original source language to get the truest sense of what the word means… and what was intended by those words.

Makrothymeō is the word used here and it is actually a verb… an action word! And let me just copy and paste from the Blue Letter Bible website (http://www.blueletterbible.org): 

Love is: “makrothymeō”

• 1) to be of a long spirit, not to lose heart
•   a) to persevere patiently and bravely in enduring misfortunes and troubles
•   b) to be patient in bearing the offenses and injuries of others
•     1) to be mild and slow in avenging
•     2) to be longsuffering, slow to anger, slow to punish 

Wow! Love is not losing heart but being slow to indignation when bearing offenses and injuries of others. I think I like the word “longsuffering” to summarize this, for when someone offends us, hurts our feelings, and/or injures us emotionally and/ or physically, such things constitute suffering. Yet when we bear the affliction with mildness not losing heart (not letting ourselves get into pity-parties or resentments), we are demonstrating love towards that person who hurt us. 

It’s as if a person can say or do anything negative to us, yet our affection for them remains. And rather than get bitter, we don’t lose heart, but remain mild-mannered toward them. 

For example: Think of your spouse. If they snap at you in a moment of impatience towards you, do you bear that offense and remain affectionate toward them? Do you resist that oh-so-easy temptation to sin with retaliation? That is what it is like to be blessed with the grace of God, the grace to endure! 

Or flipside: What happens when you snap at your spouse in a moment of inconsideration? Do they bear your painful words? Do they seemingly absorb the hurt (to keep it from ricocheting) and afterwards, do they still demonstrate affection towards you…  Oh dear friend that is love being shown towards you! 

Now consider what great and grievous pain we have inflicted by our sins towards Jesus Christ… and yet isn’t He ever willing to wait for you and hold you in His arms and comfort you…  Recall many months ago I cited (I’m pretty sure) this verse: 

2^nd Peter 3:9
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise (of judgment), as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us (you) not willing that any should perish (in Hell) but that all should come to repentance. 

So, such a quality as longsuffering is precious, wouldn’t you agree? To have it demonstrated toward us by God and a loving spouse, significant other, or friend we would be blessed! And what pleasing aroma would it be to our Lord should we demonstrate it towards others! Oh Lord, help us to truly love one another! 

**Comments/ questions/ testimonies/ objections most encouraged!

Dear Lord, thank you for this time to consider Your word and Your ways. May our thoughts, words, and deeds bring You glory… and glory to You alone. –Amen

Peace,
Jim

I’ve decided to use this blog as a repository for my weekly email Bible study messages. I send out these messages to family and friends to help them think more deeply about their walk with Christ. Now anyone can get them. 🙂 RSS is great! And away we go…

Hi Everyone,

You know, I am never sure how many of you actually read these emails I write and send out. Once upon a time I was overly concerned about such things. But I’ve learned to be faithful to God and myself with this email list. Last week I wanted to write, but my conscience would not let me. My spirit within me was under divine chastening for my self-centered pride and un-forgiveness towards others. I have since repented in humble submission and have now been graced to know what the Lord would have me to write. I am happy to say I shall write about love.

The love I will write about is the true kind of love. You may think love is a feeling. True love is not this. True love is a motive regardless of feelings. True love is of God. This great love was demonstrated by Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. This is the love that God gives to believers, and then enables them to give His love to others. Yet, this love can be unnoticed and overlooked by the hard or preoccupied heart. This love is precious, and in the end marks out those who love Christ.

Does someone truly love you? How would you know? Do you really love Jesus? How would you know? Let’s bypass all the lustful and ego-centric depictions of love on the radio and TV, but look to that ancient book that precedes everything else for the answer…

BTW, in starting out this new series, I will endeavor to limit my words to 500 or so. I tend to be longwinded in my explanations (just ask my wife), so hopefully it won’t take you all as long to read it.

Okay, let’s turn to 1^st Corinthians, chapter 13. Here the Apostle Paul talks about love. The first three verses compare true love to some amazing things….

1^st Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Okay, let’s review the amazing things:

• Gifted speech
• Gifted knowledge
• Great faith
• Great compassion
• Great sacrifice

These most sought-after, most desirable, most noble, most esteemed, most awe-inspiring qualities of man towards fellow man are worthless and empty apart from the motivation of true love. Just think about that for a moment…

Your finest moment, your personal best, your greatest act of faith (bungee-jumping perhaps), your most helpful times, and even your most painful selfless sacrifice is trash if those occasions and times were without love.

Such a contrast illustrates the glorious and matchless treasure of true love. Such a love must be divine! Next week we’ll start to see what this love IS…

**Comments/ questions/ testimonies/ objections most encouraged!

Dear Lord, thank you for this time to consider Your word and Your ways. May our thoughts, words, and deeds bring You glory… and glory to You alone. –Amen

Peace,
Jim