NEWS Love a Little More
Of all the things that are required of us in this life, which is the most important? What is the real point of our existence?
I suspect if you asked these two questions to one hundred different people from all walks of life, you would probably get dozens of different answers. What is important to some people isn't important to others and vice versa.
One day, the religious leaders in Israel - the Pharisees - confronted Jesus with these questions point blank. And here's what Jesus said:
"First, love God with all your heart, and secondly, love others as you would love yourself."
Do this, Jesus said, and you will find the purpose of your life. Everything else will fall into place.
You see, a life filled with love is a life most like the one God lives, which is life as it was meant to be. Paul told the Ephesians:
Be imitators of God, and live a life of love.
(5:1-2)
Jesus mentioned loving God with all our heart. What's central about the heart?
The heart is what connects us with God. Our hearts and spirit are inextricably intertwined.
"You will find me," God says, "when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
To hear God's voice, you must listen with your heart. To love Him, you must love with all your heart. You cannot be the person God meant you to be, and you cannot live the life he meant you to live, unless you live from the heart.
God is love. (1 John 4:8). A heart full of love is a heart connected with God.
Jesus said our hearts contain our treasure. (Matthew 6:21)
Of all the things required in life, the most important is to love. And the real point of our existence is to love.
Paul told the Corinthians that these three things remain: Faith, Hope, and Love. The greatest of these three, said Paul, is love.
Many people mistakenly think love is an emotion. To categorize love as an emotion is to demote its importance in the universe and render it part of the soul (the soul contains our minds, wills and emotions). The kind of love Jesus was talking about is a spiritual thing. It comes directly from the heart of God. When our spirits are aligned with God, our hearts are full of love. Our hearts become ALIVE!
We don't fall in love. We RISE in love.
The natural order of things from God's perspective is: Spirit, Soul, Body.
The true life of a follower of Christ is a spiritual life. God is Spirit. God is Love. If our spirits are aligned with God's hearts, our souls and bodies will follow. That's why Paul told the Romans:
Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)
You can get a glimpse of how powerful God's loving spirit is by doing a little exercise with Paul's description of it from 1 Corinthians 13. After you read each line, substitute your name for the word "Love" and ask the question - "Am I this?" (e.g., Jane is patient? Yes or No, Jane is kind? Yes or No, etc.)
Love is patient
Love is kind
Love does not envy
Love does not boast
Love is not proud
Love is not rude
Love is not self-seeking
Love is not easily angered
Love keeps no records of wrongs
Love does not delight in evil
Love rejoices with the truth
Love always protect
Love always trusts
Love always hopes
Love always perseveres
Love never fails
There are 16 questions in this little exercise. How many did you answer "Yes, I am this?" My guess is not that many. The world is full of people that lack many of the essential elements of what real love is. Many of us are not kind, we are not patient, we boast, we envy, we are proud, we are rude, we are self-seeking, we are easily angered and on and on.
In other words, many of us are not spiritual. We are natural. We are carnal. Our souls and bodies take preeminence over spirits which is a recipe for darkness in our hearts. Over time, the darkness in our hearts prevents His light from shining through. Our souls and bodies eclipse His spirit.
Many people have no clue that patience and love are a 'fruit of the Spirit.' (Galatians 5:22-23). Patience and love are spiritual things. God is patient. He waits and waits and waits for us to stop doing silly and stupid things with our lives. God is love.
Now, if we go back to our little exercise and substitute Jesus' name for the word "Love," guess what? We find that Jesus is all of those things (and more!). He's a perfect 16 out of 16.
When the religious leaders asked Jesus over 2000 years ago what the real purpose of life was and He answered "love," His heart was perfectly aligned with His Father's heart. Nothing could come in between Jesus and God. NOTHING! Jesus was (and is) the fulfillment of the law!
Jesus told us what the real purpose of life is over 2000 years ago. And since then, what have most people been doing? Ironically and sadly, precisely the opposite!
The fascinating thing is that Jesus knew this would happen. Jesus knew the future (He actually is the future, but that's another blog post for another day). He told His disciples:
Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. (Matthew 24:11-12)
Most people's love will grow cold! Go back up to the description of love and then take a look around your city, town or neighborhood and ask yourself how much love you see today. Is it hot or cold?
How many people do you know today that are loving God with all their heart. How many people do you know are loving their neighbors and their enemies? Jesus told His disciples that they would know they were His by loving one another.
This is my commandment that you love one another, just as I have loved you. (John 15:12)
If we could take the world's "Love Temperature" right now, do you know what we would see? We would see a HUGE COOLING TREND. In fact, we would probably see that we are living in the "Ice Age" of love. Now political folks and many other people around the world are gripped in fear and terrified about climate change. Meanwhile, God is watching the "love temperature" in our hearts plummet on Earth. I have no doubt at all that from God's perspective, global cooling with respect to the love in our hearts is a far bigger concern than climate change.
Oh, if we could only find our way back home - back to the real purpose of life. If we could only find a way to love a little more.
Instead, we find ourselves captive of fear and worry. The dark spiritual forces are prevailing, just as Jesus told us they would over 2000 years ago. The forces of darkness have many people focused on climate change when God wants us to heat up our hearts with His love.
The truth is that if all of our hearts were aligned with God, we wouldn't have to fear or worry about anything, including climate change.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears in not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)
There is no fear in love! God's love casts out all fear. Fear not! Be perfected in love.
The media loves fear. They try to scare us to death every single day. They prey on one of the most primitive parts of our brains - our limbic systems - to get us to watch their silly 'news' programs and read their poorly written papers and pay attention to other nonsense they call 'entertainment.' Why do so many people pay attention to the constant barrage of fear and worry coming out of their TVs? Where is the love in the media?
The sad truth is there is very little love in the media today. Love doesn't sell, so why should there be? What sells is darkness. As one of my media friends used to say, "If it bleeds, it leads." Instead of loving - instead of fulfilling our real purpose in life as God intended - we sit in front of our TVs and have our hearts pumped full with fear. The more we fear, the more we worry. We become caught in a vicious circle.
Is it any wonder people's love is growing cold?
St. John of the Cross said that in the twilight of our lives, we will be judge on how we loved.
When that day comes and you move on from this planet, and you go to meet the Lord face to face, how much love will He see in your heart?
Jesus knew the real purpose of life. He is Life! It's tragic that His wisdom has gone over most people's heads. Religion has trumped Spirit here on this little blue ball we call Earth. Religion kills, but His loving Spirit gives life.
May you find the strength today to turn off your TV and put your newspaper down and instead go help out a neighbor or a loved-one or go visit one of your enemies and tell them that you forgive them for what they have done to you in the past and tell them with that from this day forward, you will love them through the love God puts in your heart. And may you find the strength to take any religious spirit trapped in your heart to the Cross and have Him crucify it. That religious spirit must die in order for His love to shine through you.
Agape,
steve
postscript: I just finished composing a song for the next Sweetbird record with the same title as this post. It's the theme song of my heart and my regenerated life, and I am so grateful to the Lord for giving me the words and the music to express His real purpose. stay tuned...
I suspect if you asked these two questions to one hundred different people from all walks of life, you would probably get dozens of different answers. What is important to some people isn't important to others and vice versa.
One day, the religious leaders in Israel - the Pharisees - confronted Jesus with these questions point blank. And here's what Jesus said:
"First, love God with all your heart, and secondly, love others as you would love yourself."
Do this, Jesus said, and you will find the purpose of your life. Everything else will fall into place.
You see, a life filled with love is a life most like the one God lives, which is life as it was meant to be. Paul told the Ephesians:
Be imitators of God, and live a life of love.
(5:1-2)
Jesus mentioned loving God with all our heart. What's central about the heart?
The heart is what connects us with God. Our hearts and spirit are inextricably intertwined.
"You will find me," God says, "when you seek me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
To hear God's voice, you must listen with your heart. To love Him, you must love with all your heart. You cannot be the person God meant you to be, and you cannot live the life he meant you to live, unless you live from the heart.
God is love. (1 John 4:8). A heart full of love is a heart connected with God.
Jesus said our hearts contain our treasure. (Matthew 6:21)
Of all the things required in life, the most important is to love. And the real point of our existence is to love.
Paul told the Corinthians that these three things remain: Faith, Hope, and Love. The greatest of these three, said Paul, is love.
Many people mistakenly think love is an emotion. To categorize love as an emotion is to demote its importance in the universe and render it part of the soul (the soul contains our minds, wills and emotions). The kind of love Jesus was talking about is a spiritual thing. It comes directly from the heart of God. When our spirits are aligned with God, our hearts are full of love. Our hearts become ALIVE!
We don't fall in love. We RISE in love.
The natural order of things from God's perspective is: Spirit, Soul, Body.
The true life of a follower of Christ is a spiritual life. God is Spirit. God is Love. If our spirits are aligned with God's hearts, our souls and bodies will follow. That's why Paul told the Romans:
Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:10)
You can get a glimpse of how powerful God's loving spirit is by doing a little exercise with Paul's description of it from 1 Corinthians 13. After you read each line, substitute your name for the word "Love" and ask the question - "Am I this?" (e.g., Jane is patient? Yes or No, Jane is kind? Yes or No, etc.)
Love is patient
Love is kind
Love does not envy
Love does not boast
Love is not proud
Love is not rude
Love is not self-seeking
Love is not easily angered
Love keeps no records of wrongs
Love does not delight in evil
Love rejoices with the truth
Love always protect
Love always trusts
Love always hopes
Love always perseveres
Love never fails
There are 16 questions in this little exercise. How many did you answer "Yes, I am this?" My guess is not that many. The world is full of people that lack many of the essential elements of what real love is. Many of us are not kind, we are not patient, we boast, we envy, we are proud, we are rude, we are self-seeking, we are easily angered and on and on.
In other words, many of us are not spiritual. We are natural. We are carnal. Our souls and bodies take preeminence over spirits which is a recipe for darkness in our hearts. Over time, the darkness in our hearts prevents His light from shining through. Our souls and bodies eclipse His spirit.
Many people have no clue that patience and love are a 'fruit of the Spirit.' (Galatians 5:22-23). Patience and love are spiritual things. God is patient. He waits and waits and waits for us to stop doing silly and stupid things with our lives. God is love.
Now, if we go back to our little exercise and substitute Jesus' name for the word "Love," guess what? We find that Jesus is all of those things (and more!). He's a perfect 16 out of 16.
When the religious leaders asked Jesus over 2000 years ago what the real purpose of life was and He answered "love," His heart was perfectly aligned with His Father's heart. Nothing could come in between Jesus and God. NOTHING! Jesus was (and is) the fulfillment of the law!
Jesus told us what the real purpose of life is over 2000 years ago. And since then, what have most people been doing? Ironically and sadly, precisely the opposite!
The fascinating thing is that Jesus knew this would happen. Jesus knew the future (He actually is the future, but that's another blog post for another day). He told His disciples:
Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold. (Matthew 24:11-12)
Most people's love will grow cold! Go back up to the description of love and then take a look around your city, town or neighborhood and ask yourself how much love you see today. Is it hot or cold?
How many people do you know today that are loving God with all their heart. How many people do you know are loving their neighbors and their enemies? Jesus told His disciples that they would know they were His by loving one another.
This is my commandment that you love one another, just as I have loved you. (John 15:12)
If we could take the world's "Love Temperature" right now, do you know what we would see? We would see a HUGE COOLING TREND. In fact, we would probably see that we are living in the "Ice Age" of love. Now political folks and many other people around the world are gripped in fear and terrified about climate change. Meanwhile, God is watching the "love temperature" in our hearts plummet on Earth. I have no doubt at all that from God's perspective, global cooling with respect to the love in our hearts is a far bigger concern than climate change.
Oh, if we could only find our way back home - back to the real purpose of life. If we could only find a way to love a little more.
Instead, we find ourselves captive of fear and worry. The dark spiritual forces are prevailing, just as Jesus told us they would over 2000 years ago. The forces of darkness have many people focused on climate change when God wants us to heat up our hearts with His love.
The truth is that if all of our hearts were aligned with God, we wouldn't have to fear or worry about anything, including climate change.
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears in not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18)
There is no fear in love! God's love casts out all fear. Fear not! Be perfected in love.
The media loves fear. They try to scare us to death every single day. They prey on one of the most primitive parts of our brains - our limbic systems - to get us to watch their silly 'news' programs and read their poorly written papers and pay attention to other nonsense they call 'entertainment.' Why do so many people pay attention to the constant barrage of fear and worry coming out of their TVs? Where is the love in the media?
The sad truth is there is very little love in the media today. Love doesn't sell, so why should there be? What sells is darkness. As one of my media friends used to say, "If it bleeds, it leads." Instead of loving - instead of fulfilling our real purpose in life as God intended - we sit in front of our TVs and have our hearts pumped full with fear. The more we fear, the more we worry. We become caught in a vicious circle.
Is it any wonder people's love is growing cold?
St. John of the Cross said that in the twilight of our lives, we will be judge on how we loved.
When that day comes and you move on from this planet, and you go to meet the Lord face to face, how much love will He see in your heart?
Jesus knew the real purpose of life. He is Life! It's tragic that His wisdom has gone over most people's heads. Religion has trumped Spirit here on this little blue ball we call Earth. Religion kills, but His loving Spirit gives life.
May you find the strength today to turn off your TV and put your newspaper down and instead go help out a neighbor or a loved-one or go visit one of your enemies and tell them that you forgive them for what they have done to you in the past and tell them with that from this day forward, you will love them through the love God puts in your heart. And may you find the strength to take any religious spirit trapped in your heart to the Cross and have Him crucify it. That religious spirit must die in order for His love to shine through you.
Agape,
steve
postscript: I just finished composing a song for the next Sweetbird record with the same title as this post. It's the theme song of my heart and my regenerated life, and I am so grateful to the Lord for giving me the words and the music to express His real purpose. stay tuned...
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