What is love? I can say that I love chocolate, the chocolate which I am eating and enjoying as I am typing now, but it would be more grammatically correct if I said I really enjoy eating chocolate. I can say that I love my husband, when sometimes I might not feel like saying that to him because I have not got my own way in an issue or he might have said or done something which I may not have liked, and vice versa. The word 'love' tends to often be used flippantly such as in 'love you' as a gesture when separating from friends or ending a phone or text message, and it is a nice, friendly way of leaving a gathering of friends or ending a phone conversation.
But what of the Bible's deffinition of love according to 1 corinthians ch.13 vs.4 - 7. 'Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.' If I compare myself against this interpretation of love, how do I fare? I rejoice in the fact that these verses are in the Bible because I can keep coming back to use them as my plumbline and judge. Hopefully I will end up with the best kind of 'love' in me.
But what of the Bible's deffinition of love according to 1 corinthians ch.13 vs.4 - 7. 'Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.' If I compare myself against this interpretation of love, how do I fare? I rejoice in the fact that these verses are in the Bible because I can keep coming back to use them as my plumbline and judge. Hopefully I will end up with the best kind of 'love' in me.
The following are some poems that I have written that reflect the love of God in Jesus and creation to me.
Mirror Image
to the mountains the fields and the valleys to know how we ought to be
May we look to the gentle dolphin as he tries to befriend mankind
and follow this creature's example leaving killing and hatred behind
May we look to the towering mountains
holding fast against tempest and rain
as we struggle with
sorrow and tradgedy
finding strength
amidst suffering and pain
As we look to the fields and the harvest
all golden and
bursting with grain
may we learn how to share with each other
may our giving replace
all our gain
Then as in the river's reflection of the blue of the heavens above
so too we will mirror the image of God's totally unselfish love
The Power of Love
There's something about You Jesus
that just escapes my mind
about how You cause the lame to walk
and restore the sight of the blind
and how You can take the lowly
the broken hearted ones
and place them in Your kingdom
to bring them up as sons
There's something about You Jesus
there's something about Your face
though I can't see any features
I see wisdom, compassion and grace
There's something about those eyes Lord
that shed those tears for me
there's something about those healing hands
that they fastened to that tree
What made You say 'Father forgive them
for they know not what they do'
when they saved the life of Barabbas
and they chose to crucify You
I know what that 'something' is Lord
as I look to my Father above
It's the one thing that covers all others
It's Your totally unselfish love
Without You as my Lord
Without You as my Lord, I have no king
Without You as my first love there's no song to sing
Without You as my eagle my spirit can't soar
Without You as my gold I will always be poor
Without You as my life there can only be death
For by Your Holy Spirit I draw every breath
Without You as my Saviour I'm lost and forlorn
So praise God, Hallelujah that I've been reborn
36 comments:
Nice post Brenda and yes, I agree that even on our best days we cannot even come close to understanding the love God has for each of us. Oh, we may understand on some small level, but here is where the rub comes in for many – understanding and living it is two different realms. Not that we could ever have perfect love as Christ has mind you, but we are to always strive towards becoming Christ like until the coming day of our perfection and a day in which I believe is not too far off…
Blessings!
I really enjoyed this, your poems are always lovely. I pray to God to teach me how to love the way he does. There are many times when I feel like I'm not being very loving at all and not pleasing Him the way I should. Love is so very important, it's the most important commandment. I just hope to one day be able to Love others just the way our Lord Jesus loves us.
I know Sateigdra, there have been and still are times when I have not been as loving as I should be and the Holy Spirit has, and still does bring 1 corinthians ch13 to my remembrance. I believe the more we search God's word the more our minds are renewed in Christ Jesus. One of the first scriptures the Lord brought to my attention was 'take every thought into captivity', and I learned and am still learning that if I lose my peace there is something wrong, and it is usually with me. God is so patient, He knows that we are flesh.
Thankyou for your kind comment about the poetry, it all started when I came to the Lord. I found that a lot of my prayers came out in poetry form and some of the answers also came out in poems. Some were songs that were used to evangelize in the streets with my friend,which we both love doing, who also writes songs and poems.
God bless you
Hello Darryl,
Yes, understanding and living are two different realms. What we need to have is understanding and loving eh? All we can do is run the race, and I don't think the end is too far away either, that is why it is so important not the let the thief rob us of our inheritance in the Lord.
God bless you.
The love in 1 Corinthians 13 is not only the best form of love there is, it's the very character of God himself. With him living within us, it is possible to achieve this level.
Yes Frank it is possible to achieve this level if we allow our minds to be renewed in Christ Jesus through acting on that word spoken to us, and allowing it to change us where we need change. Proverbs ch.3 v.27 says 'as a man thinks in his heart so he is', so the key to being like Jesus is in our way of thinkiing.
Really good post Brenda, and I love the poetry; I try to write poetry but it's not as good as yours. I think definitely you have a gift for it.
I was just looking at your reply to Frank and you said that the key to being like Jesus is in our way of thinking; yes I couldn't agree more; we must have the mind of Christ to be like Him. And we need he Word to keep us fresh in the Lord everyday.
Hi Tim,
You have it in a nutshell! If you have written any poetry it would be nice to see it on your blog someday. I never used to write poetry before I became christian, except one poem when I was in a history lesson in school and I was bored. I was looking out of the window and thinking about my father who had died when I was eleven. A poem just started to come into my mind, ao I wrote it down. It was called 'The lease of life is short for some, for others there is time.' I remember it was five verses long, but I lost it and could never remember the words. When I became a christian poems just started dropping into my head, they usually came out of experiences or deep feelings that I had from coming to know the Lord. There was one time that I started singing a song in the car in another language. I could feel the emotion of the words but could not put it into english. I prayed to the Lord for the interpretation of the song and then started singing it in english. I know this might sound strange to you, but I cannot deny that it happened. I have had many experiences that can not be explained according to the natural way of thinking, but I believe absolutely that these things can happen to christians.
Just read my comment Tim. Just to verify, I meant concerning the fact that we need the Word to keep us fresh in the Lord every day when I said you have it in a nutshell, not the comment you made about my poetry. He he!
Hi Brenda,
Need I say that this is a post after my own heart? Well it is! This is my message to the world. This is that light that shines out of me to those that even the religious have turned their backs on. He's a God of love and He wants the world to see that about Him. I suppose that as long as I live, I'll be telling the people of the world that God is love and He loves them. He wants us to remember that love is the primary thing! It's a gift to be shared whenever possible. Especially with those who have blackened souls and are filled with hate. Love is the cure!
God bless you! See you around!
Hi Kelline,
I totally agree with you. all those qualities of what love really is, that are written in 1 corinthians ch.13 and are a reflection of God's character, will change the world completely. God bless you.
Brenda, thank you for sharing on this topic. A topic that I am now getting familiar with with My Lord and Savior. Blessings.
Hello,
You are very welcome. I love the name of your blog 'Just be real'. That is exactly what the Lord requires from us.
God bless you
Hello. thank you for sharing this up.
mind following me?
God Bless You.
The fruit of the Spirit! When we have the love of God and we follow Him the fruit grows in us.
Nice poem and great words to dwell on.
Blessings,
<><
Hi child of God,
yes that's right, and I can see as I learn from Him, the difference between the 'love' that I considered to be love and the 'love' of God in Jesus.
God bless you
Hello Bill,
have just left comment on one of your posts, will follow up reading what you write.
God bless
Yes, i have just read it. thank you very much :)
God bless you.
Thank you for your visit Brenda and kind words. Blessings.
Your very welcome
"Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us; and we ought for the brethren to lay down our lives", 1 John 3: 16 (which answers nicely to John 3: 16!).
That is right David, the kind of love that Jesus demonstrated through His crucifixion is one hundred percent altruistic, and the kind of love that we should endeavour to show to one another should also be an unselfish concern for the welfare of others.
'an unselfish concern for the welfare of others.' For the most part, that about sums up Christianity in a pragmatic and practical way; we should we be, as much as is humanly possible, always concerned about other people; and if we are fortunate, other people may be concerned about us; that's a Christian community really.
Yes Tim,
that is the loving community that we should be, and the only way to become that kind of community is to literally become 'one with Jesus' as the Bible puts it. We all have to have our minds renewed in Christ Jesus by becoming a new creation, and it is a process just like a baby growing up into an adult but with a totally different teaching to a human way of teaching. I have been brought to do so many things which didn't make sense to my way of thinking, but when I started to do what I felt I was being told to do then they began to make perfect sense.
Never heard Love been explained this way. Thanks for sharing this. You are invited to follow my blogs.
Hi Joy,
Have visited your blog and taken you up on your invitation.
Your poetry is wonderful! Do you remember when Dr. James Dobson and several others back in the early 1990's insisted that the love of God had nothing to do with personal interest, nor emotions? Would you want to spend all of eternity with someone who had no personal interest in you being there with them? I wouldn't.
By the way, would you consider removing the word verification CAPTCHA thingy? Be assured that the Blogger spam filter works just fine without it, and it would sure make it a lot easier on those who are having trouble seeing things very well. Back before my eyes got bad, the word verification CAPTCHAs were merely an added aggravation, but they are nightmare to negotiate with now.
Hi Jerry,
thankyou for your kind comment. No I don't know who Dr. James Dobson is, and I would not want to spend all of eterity with anyone who had no personal interest in me being there with them. ( I think that describes the spiritual opposition eh? ) I know what you mean about the word verification, I just had to do one of them twice when leaving a comment. I don't know how to remove it, I shall find out.
Thank you for visiting and for sharing your thoughts.
You're very welcome Joy.
Dr. James Dobson was the founder of Focus on the Family, which was major ministry over the radio back in the 90s. I am not sure if they still are.
In regards to removing the word verification CAPTCHA, the following link is to a video tutorial that I think will be most helpful. I have been getting hit with at least a dozen spam comments a day on AsTheCrackerheadCrumbles for several weeks now, and not one of them has made it past just the Blogger spam filter. So, I don't think you will have to be too concerned after removing the word verification option, and I am quite sure that your readers will be most grateful.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hktnge5LS5g
Thakyou Jerry,
Have managed to fix it, as you will have noticed. There are so many adjustments that I don't realize are in the blog design area. I am learning slowly.
I am glad. With me being about as technically-challenged as anyone I know of, I still get overwhelmed quite easily--even after around five years of "experience," and our Heavenly Father being right there to actually fix things.
That's right Jerry, it's little by little and with a little help from people like you and others who know a bit(quite a bit) more than me on the subject. I like a challenge anyway, and I love this on-line writers' circle.
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