1 Cor 13:4-8 (KJV) "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth."
Love is showing kindness. Kindness that is an end in itself. Love that doesn't expect a return. The kindness we share has the end goal of kindness alone.
Dan's paraphrase of 1 Cor 13:4-8
Love quietly waits for unpleasant situations to pass and through it all love remains kind. Love does not compare its lot in life against any body elses lot. He who has love does not need to show it off to other people nor does he want to be a show off himself. Love behaves right by being compassionate, sympathetic, empathetic, respectful, courteous, supportive and generous. However, love never does any of these things for ulterior motives. Someone without love may try to irritate the person with love in cruel ways but love will continue to show patient understanding toward them. Love will not imagine ways to get back at them. Love even becomes sad when tragedy falls on those who have provoked him and love is happy for them when they come to know and experience genuine love for themselves. Love puts up with all sorts of garbage because love has incredible faith that great miracles will soon take place and turn the garbage into treasure. Love has the power to fulfill the highest aspirations and accomplish unfathomable good. Love claims all the promises of God, not only for himself but for others also. Patiently trusting that everything will work out in the end, there is nothing love cannot fix. Although nothing of this earth will last forever, love is not of this earth. The love we have shown to others will never go away, its effects will follow people enriching lives in unimaginable ways and its ripples will only become wider encompassing the universe throughout eternity.
Describe how God's love has made a difference in your life? Compare your personal experience applying love with the ultimate love described in this passage?
Showing posts with label Unconditional Love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unconditional Love. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Monday, August 10, 2009
Matthew 5:44-45
Matt 5:44-45 (NIV) “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
We arrived in Taipei early Friday morning just as a typhoon was about to strike Taiwan later that morning. There are two types of typhoons, fast moving typhoons that cause allot of wind damage and slow moving typhoons that bring lots of rain and flooding. This was a big typhoon, they say the biggest typhoon in Taiwan in 5o years, a category 4, but it was slow moving and on the southern part of the island dumped over 5 feet of rain. When we finally arrived on the campus of Taiwan Adventist College on Saturday night we were told that we brought the rain with us when we arrived to Taiwan.
We did not understand what they were insinuating at first, even slow moving typhoons can be hazardous, we had been told that 14 people had been killed by this typhoon alone. Were they saying that by coming we brought evil upon them? No, it turns out that in the Taiwanese culture, rain is considered a blessing, and they were telling us that when we came we brought them a blessing. In fact, before the typhoon hit there was a shortage of water, the government was considering rationing water. But with the Typhoon came the blessing of fresh water.
Because God cares for the unrighteous as much as the righteous He causes the sun and the rain to be a blessing to both the evil and the good. God is love and God’s love is unconditional. Likewise, as sons and daughters of God, we are told in order to be like our Father in Heaven we should be a blessing like the rain, unconditionally falling on everyone around us.
My family and I have taken on an enormous challenge here with this new move to Taiwan. There are 24 million people living in Taiwan, and only 2700 Seventh day Adventist attending church on a given Sabbath morning. There are few young people in the Adventist churches here; it appears that they get caught up in secularism and leave the church. Couples here are choosing not to have children or just one child and focus their time and energy into working, making money and enjoying life, so the small little churches are shrinking smaller and smaller year after year. In the past Buddhism and Taoism have been traditionally the dominant religions in Taiwan. But now we are facing a force that is even more of a difficult challenge to confront, which is secularism and a post modernism combination added into the Buddhist culture. We need to make Christianity appealing to a materialistic culture that has its roots in Buddhism; how do we do that?
The only thing I can figure out to do is to lift Jesus and proclaim Him as the true blessing, the God who loves us so much that He pours out His grace like rain down on us. Lift Him up in prayer and ask Him to give us wisdom, strength and guidance to know what to say how to act and what to do. Lift Him up in faith and trust in the Lord that He will make us into a blessing and accomplish mighty things through us because we trust in his power and strength.
Discuss the value of Christianity above materialism? Share some examples of how you can share Jesus in a post modern world?
We arrived in Taipei early Friday morning just as a typhoon was about to strike Taiwan later that morning. There are two types of typhoons, fast moving typhoons that cause allot of wind damage and slow moving typhoons that bring lots of rain and flooding. This was a big typhoon, they say the biggest typhoon in Taiwan in 5o years, a category 4, but it was slow moving and on the southern part of the island dumped over 5 feet of rain. When we finally arrived on the campus of Taiwan Adventist College on Saturday night we were told that we brought the rain with us when we arrived to Taiwan.
We did not understand what they were insinuating at first, even slow moving typhoons can be hazardous, we had been told that 14 people had been killed by this typhoon alone. Were they saying that by coming we brought evil upon them? No, it turns out that in the Taiwanese culture, rain is considered a blessing, and they were telling us that when we came we brought them a blessing. In fact, before the typhoon hit there was a shortage of water, the government was considering rationing water. But with the Typhoon came the blessing of fresh water.
Because God cares for the unrighteous as much as the righteous He causes the sun and the rain to be a blessing to both the evil and the good. God is love and God’s love is unconditional. Likewise, as sons and daughters of God, we are told in order to be like our Father in Heaven we should be a blessing like the rain, unconditionally falling on everyone around us.
My family and I have taken on an enormous challenge here with this new move to Taiwan. There are 24 million people living in Taiwan, and only 2700 Seventh day Adventist attending church on a given Sabbath morning. There are few young people in the Adventist churches here; it appears that they get caught up in secularism and leave the church. Couples here are choosing not to have children or just one child and focus their time and energy into working, making money and enjoying life, so the small little churches are shrinking smaller and smaller year after year. In the past Buddhism and Taoism have been traditionally the dominant religions in Taiwan. But now we are facing a force that is even more of a difficult challenge to confront, which is secularism and a post modernism combination added into the Buddhist culture. We need to make Christianity appealing to a materialistic culture that has its roots in Buddhism; how do we do that?
The only thing I can figure out to do is to lift Jesus and proclaim Him as the true blessing, the God who loves us so much that He pours out His grace like rain down on us. Lift Him up in prayer and ask Him to give us wisdom, strength and guidance to know what to say how to act and what to do. Lift Him up in faith and trust in the Lord that He will make us into a blessing and accomplish mighty things through us because we trust in his power and strength.
Discuss the value of Christianity above materialism? Share some examples of how you can share Jesus in a post modern world?
Thursday, July 30, 2009
John 3: 16-17
John 3:16-17 (NIV) “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
In this verse, John explains in the Greek language that God loved the world with “agape” love. Agape is the Greek word used for unconditional love. God’s love is unconditional, as a matter of fact God is love, and His love is very different from human love. God's unconditional love is not based on feelings or emotions. He doesn't love us because we're lovable or because we make Him feel good; He loves us because He is love. He created us to have a loving relationship with Him, and He sacrificed His own Son (who also willingly died for us) to restore that relationship. Additionally, God’s love was not just for a select few, or for the saved. God’s unconditional love is for the “world” and all of us who have ever lived in it. Again in 2 Cor 5:19, the Bible tells us that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” He reconciled everyone to God by his death. Not just the elect, nobody was to be left out, the entire world is included. But not everyone in the world understands they are included or chooses to receive the reconciliation with God that belongs to them if they choose to embrace it.
Can anyone really comprehend "unconditional" love? It seems that the love parents have for their children is a close comparison to God’s unconditional love, or as close as we can get to it without the help of God's love in our lives. Parents continue to love our children through good times and bad times, and we don't stop loving them if they don't meet our expectations that we put on them. We choose to love our children even when they are pretty much unlovable. Our love doesn't stop when we don't "feel" love for them. In this way a parent’s love is similar to God's love for us, but actually God's love transcends our human definition of love to a point that is nearly impossible for us to comprehend. In Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In this verse and in John 3:16, we find no conditions placed on God's love for us. God doesn't say, "as soon as you clean up your act, I'll love you" nor does He say, "I'll sacrifice my Son if you promise to love Me." In fact, in Romans 5:8, we find just the opposite. God wants us to know that His love is unconditional, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us while we were still unlovable sinners.
Give some examples of God's unconditional love that you have experienced in your own life? Compare your examples of God's love and the differences between them and human love?
In this verse, John explains in the Greek language that God loved the world with “agape” love. Agape is the Greek word used for unconditional love. God’s love is unconditional, as a matter of fact God is love, and His love is very different from human love. God's unconditional love is not based on feelings or emotions. He doesn't love us because we're lovable or because we make Him feel good; He loves us because He is love. He created us to have a loving relationship with Him, and He sacrificed His own Son (who also willingly died for us) to restore that relationship. Additionally, God’s love was not just for a select few, or for the saved. God’s unconditional love is for the “world” and all of us who have ever lived in it. Again in 2 Cor 5:19, the Bible tells us that “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ” He reconciled everyone to God by his death. Not just the elect, nobody was to be left out, the entire world is included. But not everyone in the world understands they are included or chooses to receive the reconciliation with God that belongs to them if they choose to embrace it.
Can anyone really comprehend "unconditional" love? It seems that the love parents have for their children is a close comparison to God’s unconditional love, or as close as we can get to it without the help of God's love in our lives. Parents continue to love our children through good times and bad times, and we don't stop loving them if they don't meet our expectations that we put on them. We choose to love our children even when they are pretty much unlovable. Our love doesn't stop when we don't "feel" love for them. In this way a parent’s love is similar to God's love for us, but actually God's love transcends our human definition of love to a point that is nearly impossible for us to comprehend. In Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." In this verse and in John 3:16, we find no conditions placed on God's love for us. God doesn't say, "as soon as you clean up your act, I'll love you" nor does He say, "I'll sacrifice my Son if you promise to love Me." In fact, in Romans 5:8, we find just the opposite. God wants us to know that His love is unconditional, so He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us while we were still unlovable sinners.
Give some examples of God's unconditional love that you have experienced in your own life? Compare your examples of God's love and the differences between them and human love?
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Romans 8:30-34
Rom 8:30-34 (NLT) "And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory. Nothing Can Separate Us from God's Love. What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won't he also give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us?"
I believe that from the moment Christ died for us, God's predestination came running to each of us. In the story of the prodigal son, in Luke 15:11-32, the Father of the prodigal son waited for his son to come home, not to use the situation as an opportunity to scold his son but the Father waited in anticipation so that he could run with forgiveness in his heart out to his son. In Romans 8, first God calls us home to his kingdom. Some translations say in this verse that we were predestined rather than called. I say yes, the cross did predestine all the world back into the family of God so that whosoever would believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. We walk home expecting to ask the Father to take us back and become a hired worker. But no, God predestined us to be His sons and daughters and not a hired worker, he runs to us, takes us in his arms and holds us close to his chest then before we can even make our plea that we are unworthy to be his son. The Father tells us we are already in right standing with him, because of the cross, nothing can separate us from his love.
Then even beyond that God gives us his Glory! We are Glorified? Yes, we are even glorified. By faith the glorification we are to receive in the next life is ours now to claim as if we were already there because the promise that he will receive it is as good as literally having it. Likewise, in a sense, at the beginning of our quest back home we are already at the destination and the destination is at every step of our journey. Because the promise that we will arrive is as good as literally being there, because God ran and gave it to us while we were yet still a far way off.
I heard Max Lucado say not long ago, that in the Hebrew culture there is one thing that an elderly Jewish man will never do. He will never run. It has been recorded that even in situations where a building was collapsing the elderly Jewish men would rather die in the rubble than run out of the building to save their own lives. The act of running is humiliating for them. In the same way as Christ’s death, hanging naked on a cross, tortured and beaten, laughed at, ridiculed and spit upon was a humiliation for God. At the cross is when God ran.
"And the only time, the only time I ever saw Him run
Was when He ran to me,
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
And said "My son's come home again".
Looked in my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said "Son, do you know I still love you?"
It caught me by surprise
When God ran
The day I left home, I knew I'd broken His heart
I wondered if things could ever be the same,
Then one night, I remembered His love for me
And down that dusty road, ahead I could see
It's the only time, the only time I ever saw Him run
Was when He ran to me,
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
And said "My son's come home again".
Looked in my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said "Son, do you know I still love you?"
It caught me by surprise, He brought me to my knees
When God ran
I saw Him run to me
And then I ran to Him"
Share your own personal "prodigal son" story? What does it feel like to be like the Father, waiting for your prodigal to return home? Share an experience in your life when you know that God was running to you?
*lyrics taken from the song "When God Ran" by Benny Hester
**Originally posted as a comment by Dan and Karl on Kingdom Quest Blog on July 9, 2009 3:45 PM
I believe that from the moment Christ died for us, God's predestination came running to each of us. In the story of the prodigal son, in Luke 15:11-32, the Father of the prodigal son waited for his son to come home, not to use the situation as an opportunity to scold his son but the Father waited in anticipation so that he could run with forgiveness in his heart out to his son. In Romans 8, first God calls us home to his kingdom. Some translations say in this verse that we were predestined rather than called. I say yes, the cross did predestine all the world back into the family of God so that whosoever would believe in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. We walk home expecting to ask the Father to take us back and become a hired worker. But no, God predestined us to be His sons and daughters and not a hired worker, he runs to us, takes us in his arms and holds us close to his chest then before we can even make our plea that we are unworthy to be his son. The Father tells us we are already in right standing with him, because of the cross, nothing can separate us from his love.
Then even beyond that God gives us his Glory! We are Glorified? Yes, we are even glorified. By faith the glorification we are to receive in the next life is ours now to claim as if we were already there because the promise that he will receive it is as good as literally having it. Likewise, in a sense, at the beginning of our quest back home we are already at the destination and the destination is at every step of our journey. Because the promise that we will arrive is as good as literally being there, because God ran and gave it to us while we were yet still a far way off.
I heard Max Lucado say not long ago, that in the Hebrew culture there is one thing that an elderly Jewish man will never do. He will never run. It has been recorded that even in situations where a building was collapsing the elderly Jewish men would rather die in the rubble than run out of the building to save their own lives. The act of running is humiliating for them. In the same way as Christ’s death, hanging naked on a cross, tortured and beaten, laughed at, ridiculed and spit upon was a humiliation for God. At the cross is when God ran.
"And the only time, the only time I ever saw Him run
Was when He ran to me,
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
And said "My son's come home again".
Looked in my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said "Son, do you know I still love you?"
It caught me by surprise
When God ran
The day I left home, I knew I'd broken His heart
I wondered if things could ever be the same,
Then one night, I remembered His love for me
And down that dusty road, ahead I could see
It's the only time, the only time I ever saw Him run
Was when He ran to me,
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
And said "My son's come home again".
Looked in my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice He said "Son, do you know I still love you?"
It caught me by surprise, He brought me to my knees
When God ran
I saw Him run to me
And then I ran to Him"
Share your own personal "prodigal son" story? What does it feel like to be like the Father, waiting for your prodigal to return home? Share an experience in your life when you know that God was running to you?
*lyrics taken from the song "When God Ran" by Benny Hester
**Originally posted as a comment by Dan and Karl on Kingdom Quest Blog on July 9, 2009 3:45 PM
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