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All we need is a love that changes everything

1 Corinthians 13 :1- 13

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The Excellence of Love

13 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.

In an email to my friend Geoff Grice earlier today,  I briefly made a reference to the story of Cindrella, I’ve always wondered why Cindrella never feel in love with Buttons,  Buttons loved Cindrella for she was, but Cindrella didn’t love Buttons in the same way, she chased the myth of love with Prince Charming, yes she lived happy ever after, for many of us we need to stop chasing the myth of love with prince or princess charming and find true (real) love with buttons.

How the New Testament defines love

From http://biblemegasite.com/love.htm

New Testament love is different from the love most people think of when they think of "love". Most English Bible readers think that "love" has the same meaning throughout the NT. Most believe that love simply means "to have great affection for." Actually the New Testament Greek language has 4 different words for "love" and each has a different meaning. Don't worry about the Greek, I will explain them well.

1. eros - Physical attraction. Strawberry Shortcake love: "I want the shortcake. I want it bad! I will consume it without giving it a thought about how the shortcake feels" Eros doesn't appear in the New Testament, but is mentioned in the Greek Old Testament. Eros can often be selfish in the form of lust. A healthy eros would be a physical attraction between a married couple. But having this love and no others would make a mockery out of true love.

2. storge - Family love. We don't love Aunt Minnie because of her eros (physical attraction), but because she is our Aunt Minnie, a part of our family, even though she is blind, deaf, and senile. Storge appears 3 times in the NT, twice in its negative form (astorge - "without family love"), and once combined with phila ("be devoted"). A mother who has her baby and throws it in the trash can is showing astorge. I storge a Christian because he/she is a member of my spiritual family. But what if said Christian renounces Christianity? Could I still love him/her if storge was the only form of love I had?

3. phila - Friendship love. It is warm feelings and affection. It is liking someone. Philia is emotional, spontaneous, and instinctive. The weakness of this love is that in order to show it, it has to be shared. Your phila for me is damaged if I don't show phila for you. I call the weakness of phila "bowling partner" love: "I love you if you keep bowling strikes, but start throwing gutter balls and I'll find a new bowling partner." Many couples make this the main love in their marriage, and the marriage doesn't survive the gutter balls of life. I phila my friends, I have feelings for them, but that isn't enough to truly love them, especially if they don't show affection to me.

4. agape - A desire to do what is best for another. This Greek word is rarely used in other Greek writings and used in a colourless way. The New Testament gives agape a wonderful new meaning. Agape does involve a desire and a devotion, but doesn't depend of affection received from another in order to exist. Its purpose is to treat his fellow man with esteem and respect, even when rebuking someone who has done wrong. Christ said if we love (agape) Him, we will keep His commandments (John 14:15). We are commanded to display agape with all of our heart, soul and mind to God and to show agape to our neighbor as we would do for ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40).

 We are told by Paul to walk in the way of agape (Ephesians 3:16-19). Agape is the fulfillment of the Law (Romans 13:8-10). John stated that agape expresses itself in word and deed and that without agape, we don't know God, who is the very definition of agape (1 John 3:16-19, 4:8). Agape is the word used as love in John 3:16 and 1 Corinthians 13. In 1 Corinthians 13, it says that "love bears all things." The Greek word for "bear" can also mean "cover," as in agape throwing a cover of silence over the faults of others. I can even agape my enemies, I can desire and act for what is best for them, regardless of their feelings for me. Agape is an act of the will. I truly agape people, and I will do what is best for them, even if they had no eros, storge, phila, or agape for me. What people don't realize is that while eros, storge, and phila come naturally to humans, agape is not, for it is divine. Agape has to be learned, from God's Word.

The Bible is not just a rulebook, but it is the dictionary of agape, whether agape defines how we worship God or how we interact to one another. If we master agape as defined in the Bible, we need nothing else to be more like God, for God IS agape (1 John 4:8)

Eros - Based on the glands. "I love you because I am attracted to you.

Storge - based on genetic ties. "I'm love you because we are kin to each other"

Phila - based on emotions. "I really like you, I love you because I enjoy being with you."

Agape - based on a decision, an act of the will. "I love you", not "I love you if....", not "I love you because....", just simply "I love you".

1 John 4:7-21 New American Standard Bible

God Is Love

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 19 We love, because He first loved us. 20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

The life that I have

Is all that I have

And the life that I have

Is yours.

The love that I have

Of the life that I have

Is yours and yours and yours.

A sleep I shall have

A rest I shall have

Yet death will be but a pause.

For the peace of my years

In the long green grass

Will be yours and yours and yours.

Leo Marks, taken from Carve her Name with Pride the story of Violette Szabo

6 Warning Signs of Spiritual Abuse

6 Warning Signs of Spiritual Abuse

The church is called Word of Life Christian Center, but the tiny Pentecostal congregation in New Hartford, New York, is now known for death. It made headlines earlier this month when a 19-year-old member, Lucas Leonard, died during a so-called "counseling session" that involved 10 hours of beatings and interrogation.

Six members of the church now face criminal charges for the incident, which also left Lucas' 17-year-old brother, Christopher, hospitalized. Most of the group's 20 members were afraid to speak to the media. But a former member, Chadwick Handville, who now lives in Arizona, told The New York Times that the church had become a cult.

12 Marriage Vows

http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/263639-12-truthful-marriage-vows-you-wont-hear-at-a-wedding.html/4

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It’s still 1943 in Tyneham, where time stood still when the army told everyone to leave because they needed the surrounding hills for training. Most weekends and throughout the summer school holidays the village is open to the public and you can stroll along the main street, between the abandoned stone cottages and poke your head into the old schoolhouse and church.

Government has 'no plans' for national register of faith leaders

Government has 'no plans' for national register of faith leaders

A Home Office Minister has confirmed the government has no plans for a national register of faith leaders.

Last month, the Sunday Telegraph said it had seen a leaked document which suggested priests, rabbis and imams would have to sign up to a list as part of plans to tackle extremism.

The newspaper said the register would be compulsory and "require all faiths to maintain a national register of faith leaders" and that the government will "set out the minimum level of training and checks" that faith leaders will have to go through.

Responding to the article, a spokesperson from the Catholic Church said that it had not been consulted on the proposals and another anonymous source said the proposals would be "firmly resisted".

The issue was raised in a written question by UKIP MP Douglas Carswell.

Faith leaders 'registering' to thwart extremism

Faith leaders 'registering' to thwart extremism

Priests, rabbis and imams as well as other religious leaders will have to join a national register for faith leaders as part of the Home Office's plan to tackle extremism.

Those on the list will be subject to training and security checks.

The controversial proposal, seen by The Sunday Telegraph, was leaked in a draft of the government's counter-extremism strategy.

The document is due out this autumn.

It says it will "require all faiths to maintain a national register of faith leaders" and that the government will "set out the minimum level of training and checks" that faith leaders will have to go through.

Registration will be compulsory for any faith leaders that want to work in the public sector, including universities.

In practice this would cover almost all faith leaders as many people often deal with the public.

A spokesperson from the Catholic Church said that it had not been consulted on the proposals and another anonymous source said the proposals would be "firmly resisted".

If, Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

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Source: A Choice of Kipling's Verse (1943)

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