Do we love God?

[arunangelo]

[SIZE=12pt]God forgave us by sacrificing his own life, so that, we, who betrayed him may have peace and joy for all eternity. He told us that if we love him we would keep his commandments by loving one another as he has loved us.
Therefore, do we love God, if we:
1) refuse to forgive others as God forgave us?
2) have hate, greed, revenge, pride and lust in our heart?
3) refuse to sacrifice our own interest in order to bring healing to those who hurt and betray us?
4) refuse to stay faithful to our marriage covenant when there is hurt and betrayal?[/SIZE]

 

[FHII]

Arunangelo, I don't mean to criticize your post so quickly, but it irks me when people talk about keeping his commandments by loving one another. I do realize he said that.... I'm not saying "don't love one another". However, many times I read read posts like this and see people utterly fail to realize that this was the second great commandment, which is like the first, but not the first. There is something more important in the quest to love God and keep his commandments.

The question was posed in Matt 22:36: which is the great commandment of the law. Jesus answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. So the first thing we do to love God, is to... Well, LOVE GOD! After that, then yes, "Love thy neighbor." In short, to skip to the second commandment without acknowledging the first is not loving God and is not keeping his commandments.

So, I'd rather talk about THAT first. All those things you mentioned, yes we should do them as long as we keep them in proper perspective.

 

[afaithfulone4u]

Arunangelo, I don't mean to criticize your post so quickly, but it irks me when people talk about keeping his commandments by loving one another. I do realize he said that.... I'm not saying "don't love one another". However, many times I read read posts like this and see people utterly fail to realize that this was the second great commandment, which is like the first, but not the first. There is something more important in the quest to love God and keep his commandments.

The question was posed in Matt 22:36: which is the great commandment of the law. Jesus answered, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. So the first thing we do to love God, is to... Well, LOVE GOD! After that, then yes, "Love thy neighbor." In short, to skip to the second commandment without acknowledging the first is not loving God and is not keeping his commandments.

So, I'd rather talk about THAT first. All those things you mentioned, yes we should do them as long as we keep them in proper perspective.

To keep God's commandments includes all of God's Word and to love His Word is to love Him for He and His Word are One... In the beginning was The Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God
The love of God is His Word and it is the greatest thing you can give to another human being..
John 15:9-10
9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
KJV
John 14:23-24
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
KJV
Mark 12:29-31
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
KJV
God desires obedience not sacrifice for when we obey His Word in everything we do, we are honoring Him and exalting Him above all for every knee shall bow to the Word in the end to the honor of God.

 

[[email protected]]

[SIZE=12pt]God forgave us by sacrificing his own life, so that, we, who betrayed him may have peace and joy for all eternity. He told us that if we love him we would keep his commandments by loving one another as he has loved us.
Therefore, do we love God, if we:
1) refuse to forgive others as God forgave us?
2) have hate, greed, revenge, pride and lust in our heart?
3) refuse to sacrifice our own interest in order to bring healing to those who hurt and betray us?
4) refuse to stay faithful to our marriage covenant when there is hurt and betrayal?[/SIZE]

It is not .....
1) me
2) me
3) me
4) me

It is Christ one through four and beyond.

Hello?

Somebody never read the Bible!

Hello?

There is NONE righteous, not a single stinking filthy self-righteous goody-two-shoes one.

NOBODY LOVES GOD. NOBODY.

Get it? Read the Bible. We are all a bunch of self-serving pompous apes. All our righteous is like used toilet paper - ok?
All our holiness is like stinking sewage. It's just that pure.

Anybody that thinks being good will get you anything except a ticket to the Kiwanis awards banquet is an idiot.

Read the Bible. Read the Bible. Read the Bible.

THE ONLY thing that makes Christianity different from every other stinking religion on the planet is grace.

Every other religion says you gotta work for your eternal fantasy - which you aren't going to get because we're idiots.

YOU CAN'T BRIBE GOD. Hello? For some reason He seems to be able to see through our smoke screen of self-delusion.

The definition of grace is unmerited favor.

God gives salvation because God wants to, not because we're a bunch of dimwits who think we're something we're not.
God is able to grant salvation because God paid the price for His own anger. We didn't buy it on credit against the day we might decide to do something nice.

God comes and gives us light to be something better than our DNA planned for us.
He comes to help us be like Jesus and to carry the cross He's given us.
There is nothing pretty or cute about the cross. It's nasty and dirty and it hurts a lot.
There is nothing humanly glorious about it at all.

Salvation - from the blood to the cross is all His from start to finish.
The best we can do is thank Him for allowing us to participate in the process.

If anyone has experienced a tissue of affection for God - it's because He loved us first and gave us a tiny teeny weeny capacity to give a bit of it back to him - by bearing the cross in our lives.

You can take your situational ethics and flush it down the toilet because that's all it's good for.

and that's just me, hollering from the choir loft...

 

[Niki]

Christianity can be very very messy. And painful...very painful.

But frankly I down myself enough without someone blasting everyone on how nasty we are. God fixed that.

Wow, you sure seem to have an awful big chip on your shoulder Mr. rjp...I know you from another forum, don't bother I don't use
the same name from forum to forum...and the moderation is stricter there and you don't spout off in all directions there like
you do here

What does the righteousness of Christ mean to you? Listen, I have had some terribly raw deals from other 'Christians'...have been betrayed,
lied about, taken to the cleaners, gossiped about, stabbed in the back and gossiped about...all because I cannot be bought, I don't lie and
I mean what I say.

I have been accused of lying, stealing and various other things I have not done...by other Christians.

I am coming to the conclusion that some of us just have to go through it...you know? I don't like it but I can't change it and so far, neither has God.

I have been angry, depressed, hurt and turned away from all things church. I think God has alot of patience. After awhile, you have to start to
figure it out or you become bitter and hateful.

I'm not there yet, but I mean, we are, really, not in charge at all. It's no use to rave and rant...that is not what God is waiting for.

Seriously, did Christ get any better on this earth? and if not, then why should we if really love Him? Yes, even our petty love is accepted by Him but
He certainly does have a way of showing us what is in our own hearts.

 

[aspen]

I like your posts, Niki.

I also like this OP very much. It is one of the few that addresses the Christian life.

 

[KingJ]

[SIZE=12pt]God forgave us by sacrificing his own life, so that, we, who betrayed him may have peace and joy for all eternity. He told us that if we love him we would keep his commandments by loving one another as he has loved us.
Therefore, do we love God, if we:
1) refuse to forgive others as God forgave us?
2) have hate, greed, revenge, pride and lust in our heart?
3) refuse to sacrifice our own interest in order to bring healing to those who hurt and betray us?
4) refuse to stay faithful to our marriage covenant when there is hurt and betrayal?[/SIZE]

Amen. We do need to daily examine ourselves and ask these type of questions.

Just pedantically on pt4. Adultery is grounds for divorce .

It is not .....
1) me
2) me
3) me
4) me

It is Christ one through four and beyond.

Hello?

Somebody never read the Bible!

Hello?

There is NONE righteous, not a single stinking filthy self-righteous goody-two-shoes one.

NOBODY LOVES GOD. NOBODY.

Get it? Read the Bible. We are all a bunch of self-serving pompous apes. All our righteous is like used toilet paper - ok?
All our holiness is like stinking sewage. It's just that pure.

Anybody that thinks being good will get you anything except a ticket to the Kiwanis awards banquet is an idiot.

Read the Bible. Read the Bible. Read the Bible.

THE ONLY thing that makes Christianity different from every other stinking religion on the planet is grace.

Every other religion says you gotta work for your eternal fantasy - which you aren't going to get because we're idiots.

YOU CAN'T BRIBE GOD. Hello? For some reason He seems to be able to see through our smoke screen of self-delusion.

The definition of grace is unmerited favor.

God gives salvation because God wants to, not because we're a bunch of dimwits who think we're something we're not.
God is able to grant salvation because God paid the price for His own anger. We didn't buy it on credit against the day we might decide to do something nice.

God comes and gives us light to be something better than our DNA planned for us.
He comes to help us be like Jesus and to carry the cross He's given us.
There is nothing pretty or cute about the cross. It's nasty and dirty and it hurts a lot.
There is nothing humanly glorious about it at all.

Salvation - from the blood to the cross is all His from start to finish.
The best we can do is thank Him for allowing us to participate in the process.

If anyone has experienced a tissue of affection for God - it's because He loved us first and gave us a tiny teeny weeny capacity to give a bit of it back to him - by bearing the cross in our lives.

You can take your situational ethics and flush it down the toilet because that's all it's good for.

and that's just me, hollering from the choir loft...

Christ is only living in us because we keep Him on the throne. Otherwise why is there a hell and heaven with a God that is impartial?

 

[Niki]

I like your posts, Niki.

I also like this OP very much. It is one of the few that addresses the Christian life.

awwww...thanks aspen2 :)

I think that we need to check ourselves on a regular basis so I think the op is a good one too

There is that verse in Psalms: Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; Psalm 139:23

 

[Angelina]

[SIZE=12pt]God forgave us by sacrificing his own life, so that, we, who betrayed him may have peace and joy for all eternity. He told us that if we love him we would keep his commandments by loving one another as he has loved us.
Therefore, do we love God, if we:
1) refuse to forgive others as God forgave us?
2) have hate, greed, revenge, pride and lust in our heart?
3) refuse to sacrifice our own interest in order to bring healing to those who hurt and betray us?
4) refuse to stay faithful to our marriage covenant when there is hurt and betrayal?[/SIZE]

Betrayed God? :huh: ...At one time, we "Gentiles" were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. We became to be part of his family through the cross. Ephesians 2:19-20

Shalom!