I have been thinking a lot about love, lately. As many of you know, I am a big fan of love and it is surprising to me when I hear so much opposition when I talk about it in relation to Christianity; as if love is superficial or promotes an easy form of the faith. Here are some of the negative feedback I have heard about love on the board and in real life:
Too much focus on Love is wrong because.......
1. It denies God's justice / just wrath
2. It promotes easy salvation "Don't worry, God will not send you to Hell - He loves you!"
3. It is self-indulgent "Loving your self is against Christianity because it is self-centered"
4. Nonbelievers do not deserve God's love "What?! Are you saying God should love Hitler?"
5. God's love is not unconditional "God hates sinners"
6. It is part of the New Age "If you love yourself too much you will start believing you are God"
7. It is part of pop-psychology "Take a pill so that you can finally hate your parents and love yourself!"
8. It is part of secular humanism "Once we realize our potential as human beings (loving ourselves because of our own worth) we will be unstoppable! (God-like).
9. it is wimpy "My best friends eat rainbows and poop butterflies!"
10. It takes away from Christ's sacrifice on the Cross "Com'mon! Christ didn't come to Earth to sit around a campfire and sing Kum-bah-yah! HE DIED ON A CROSS FOR OUR SINS!"
11. Expressing love to the sinner is a passive acceptance of their personal sin "The only way to really love a sinner is to point out their personal sin and lead them to Christ through repentance"
12. Love is only a tiny part of the Bible "Simply focusing on goopy-ewy love is a rejection of the rest of the Bible and we are warned about adding and taking away from God's Word!"
So here is why I believe love needs all of our attention:
1. Love encompasses justice - both God's and justice in our families and communities.
2. Love speaks the truth about the human condition - before and after the Fall; Jesus's example, ministry, sacrifice and victory; and our need for justification and sanctification.
3. Loving yourself is a process - it first requires us to experience God's love for us - when we realize how much He loves us, we begin to realize how precious we are in His sight - then we realize our love for Him and our neighbors, which we express through devotion and service.
4. John 3:16
5. " "
6. Love is mind, heart, action changing. The New Age Movement promises comfortable acceptance.
7. Pop-psychology promises quick fixes with no personal effort
8. Secular Humanism leads to Realism, which leads to Existentialism, and ends in Despair.
9. Love is as tough as the Cross.
10. Love is the Cross
11. Loving a sinner involves a deep relationship, which leads to trust, which leads to perspective, which leads to empathy, which leads to love, and sharing burdens and healing through repentance.
12. Love is the summary of the Law and the Fulfillment of the Law and the redemption of humanity and the citizenship of Heaven.
We were created to love. We forgot how to love because we took our eyes off of God and forgot how precious we are in His sight. The Law told us where we were failing short and Jesus taught us how to love once more, by loving us first.
True love is unconditional. God will love some all the way to Hell. We are called to love our enemies.
True love is selfless because it is fueled by direct love by God. We are called to love others because we are loved by Him.
If you truly love, you cannot sin - we will only truly love after our sanctification is complete and we are kneeling before Him in Heaven.
Our sanctification needs to be practiced - we need to re-learn how to love by actively engaging in service and building deep relationships with others.
Storing our treasure in Heaven is developing loving relationships with people on Earth;
Receiving Love is awesome, but unless you are willing to become a lover through sanctification, you will left unredeemed.
God's Grace is His unconditional love; justification is our undeserved remission from the curse of the Fall, illuminated by the Law; sanctification is our life-long school of love, and graduation is becoming the Fully Redeemed Human Being we were created to be, which is salvation and citizenship in Heaven.
Blessings
Too much focus on Love is wrong because.......
1. It denies God's justice / just wrath
2. It promotes easy salvation "Don't worry, God will not send you to Hell - He loves you!"
3. It is self-indulgent "Loving your self is against Christianity because it is self-centered"
4. Nonbelievers do not deserve God's love "What?! Are you saying God should love Hitler?"
5. God's love is not unconditional "God hates sinners"
6. It is part of the New Age "If you love yourself too much you will start believing you are God"
7. It is part of pop-psychology "Take a pill so that you can finally hate your parents and love yourself!"
8. It is part of secular humanism "Once we realize our potential as human beings (loving ourselves because of our own worth) we will be unstoppable! (God-like).
9. it is wimpy "My best friends eat rainbows and poop butterflies!"
10. It takes away from Christ's sacrifice on the Cross "Com'mon! Christ didn't come to Earth to sit around a campfire and sing Kum-bah-yah! HE DIED ON A CROSS FOR OUR SINS!"
11. Expressing love to the sinner is a passive acceptance of their personal sin "The only way to really love a sinner is to point out their personal sin and lead them to Christ through repentance"
12. Love is only a tiny part of the Bible "Simply focusing on goopy-ewy love is a rejection of the rest of the Bible and we are warned about adding and taking away from God's Word!"
So here is why I believe love needs all of our attention:
1. Love encompasses justice - both God's and justice in our families and communities.
2. Love speaks the truth about the human condition - before and after the Fall; Jesus's example, ministry, sacrifice and victory; and our need for justification and sanctification.
3. Loving yourself is a process - it first requires us to experience God's love for us - when we realize how much He loves us, we begin to realize how precious we are in His sight - then we realize our love for Him and our neighbors, which we express through devotion and service.
4. John 3:16
5. " "
6. Love is mind, heart, action changing. The New Age Movement promises comfortable acceptance.
7. Pop-psychology promises quick fixes with no personal effort
8. Secular Humanism leads to Realism, which leads to Existentialism, and ends in Despair.
9. Love is as tough as the Cross.
10. Love is the Cross
11. Loving a sinner involves a deep relationship, which leads to trust, which leads to perspective, which leads to empathy, which leads to love, and sharing burdens and healing through repentance.
12. Love is the summary of the Law and the Fulfillment of the Law and the redemption of humanity and the citizenship of Heaven.
We were created to love. We forgot how to love because we took our eyes off of God and forgot how precious we are in His sight. The Law told us where we were failing short and Jesus taught us how to love once more, by loving us first.
True love is unconditional. God will love some all the way to Hell. We are called to love our enemies.
True love is selfless because it is fueled by direct love by God. We are called to love others because we are loved by Him.
If you truly love, you cannot sin - we will only truly love after our sanctification is complete and we are kneeling before Him in Heaven.
Our sanctification needs to be practiced - we need to re-learn how to love by actively engaging in service and building deep relationships with others.
Storing our treasure in Heaven is developing loving relationships with people on Earth;
Receiving Love is awesome, but unless you are willing to become a lover through sanctification, you will left unredeemed.
God's Grace is His unconditional love; justification is our undeserved remission from the curse of the Fall, illuminated by the Law; sanctification is our life-long school of love, and graduation is becoming the Fully Redeemed Human Being we were created to be, which is salvation and citizenship in Heaven.
Blessings
