I know love is all romanticized and stuff all the time. Don't get me wrong, I am big on romantics.
I just believe love is a choice. It is affected by one's emotions, thoughts, and experiences.
My reasoning is that God commands us in His Word, to love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind. And God never commands us to do things we are incapable of. God also commands us to love others as ourselves and love our enemies. The Bible speaks of christians that have turned back to the world, and how they have "left their first love".....being God.
These days you see a lot of divorces too of course, and sometimes you hear, "well, we just don't love eachother any more" as if it is out of their control.
They make me happy, so I love them? Happiness comes and goes and you can certainly love someone you are unhappy with.....look at the relationship between God and us.
Then of course there is the phrase "making love", but that's not love, that's lust.
It seems love is commonly defined in emotional and physical ways, but is truelly a matter of your mind and soul.
I just believe there must be a point in time where someone (consciously or unconsciously) adds up the emotions, experiences, and thoughts in their heads and decides they love the person.
What are your thoughts folks?
Hope you understand what I'm trying to say...didn't explain it as clearly as I had hoped.:winksmile:
Love is a verb so to love another must be a choice made at some level right? And, if that's the case, aren't we called to make the choice to love all those we come into contact with to the best of our ability?
If that's true then maybe choosing a spouse isn't about falling in love but maybe it's affected by experiencing a different form of love. I don't know but it's something to think about.
I think part of the problem is that in our language we have one word that covers several emotions. I love chocolate. I love my family. I love my friends. I love God. Then there is the giddy love of sweethearts and the deep abiding love of a time tested bond between man and wife. It really is ridiculous to use one word for all of them.
This is where I feel most women go wrong on dating, especially online - they seem to be looking for a feeling which tells them they're in love. If they don't get that feeling then they can't have met "mr right" and they move on.
Now I get a similar feeling when I see some hot girl, but I know it isn't really love. Chances are we'd be so different we'd drive each other crazy in short order!
I'd advise that if you could at least live with someone as a housemate, then they're worth one or two informal dates to see if something develops; after all, love grows.
So far, from where I�ve arrived in scripture, I do not believe that love is something that �any� human being is capable of apart from the Holy Spirit within them. If someone is unable to acknowledge Christ as Lord apart from the Holy Spirit, then I do not believe that anyone is capable of love towards another apart from that same Spirit�."Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus is accursed"; and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit." 1 Corinthians 12:3
Also,
According to 1st Corinthians 13, a person may �act� in any number of �seemingly� loving ways such as described in the following verse, but apart from �Love� within them (which I now believe to literally mean Christ indwelling someone through the Holy Spirit) it is to no avail�� 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.� 1st Corinthians 13:3
In fact, if you substitute the name �Christ� for the word �Love� in 1st Corinthians 13:1-13, you�ll understand better what I�m talking about - it is a total eye opener ;).
Therefore, I now believe that true �Love� is actually a "condition", that produces loving actions � the condition of Christ indwelling someone.
I think I'm going to have to disagree with you Dreamtime, though I understand and respect what you are saying (please tell me if I misunderstood your point). I think love is something any human can do to an extent. We are made in God's image and assuming that means some of his nature has been imparted unto us, we should be able to love. It's just not the perfect love God himself offers. Those of us who now have the Holy Spirit are acutely aware that our love is lacking.
As to 1 Corinthians 13, I look at it somewhat literally, I suppose, and it makes good common sense. If you are the wisest, most intelligent man in history but you use it for only yourself, what good does it do? If I sacrifice everything I am for something but never loved others, who notices? I think the whole point is that one should be focused outward because, after all, isn't that how Christ loves us?
I wouldn't necessarily disagree with what you're saying, but I would definitely ask you some questions...
@Stegoodie,
�I think love is something any human can do to an extent. We are made in God's image and assuming that means some of his nature has been imparted unto us, we should be able to love. It's just not the perfect love God himself offers.�
@Mydreamtime,
I believe you�re speaking of God�s common grace, which I too believe in. But again, it is God�s common grace, and not natural man that is enabling himself to operate out of that grace.
Consider what Paul says of his natural self in Romans 7:18� �For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.� = Nothing good? Question. Was Paul capable of love before his conversion? Surely he had thought so, and had acted upon that love many times � while at the same time persecuting the church, and that in the �name� of �love�. A love that�s foundation was not the indwelling Spirit of Christ, but instead a love produced and sustained by Paul�s flesh at that time.
Proverbs 12:10 �A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.�
An action in itself cannot be qualified as love. Truth is more basic than meaning, and meaning is more basic than love. Apart from Truth and Meaning, which both have to do with the presence of Christ, an action is rendered meaningless � regardless of how meaningful it may seem = Mathew 7...22"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles (all acts of love)?' 23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'
@Stegoodie,
�If you are the wisest, most intelligent man in history but you use it for only yourself, what good does it do? If I sacrifice everything I am for something but never loved others, who notices? I think the whole point is that one should be focused outward because, after all, isn't that how Christ loves us?�
@Mydreamtime,
Keep in mind that giving one�s possessions to feed the poor and surrendering one�s body to be burned is definitely not focusing on one�s self � it would seem. Yet it profits the giver nothing?
Paul says that what is not done by faith is sin. Is he speaking of faith in Christ? Or is there another faith that is acceptable to God?
I wouldn't necessarily disagree with what you're saying, but I would definitely ask you some questions...
@Stegoodie,
�I think love is something any human can do to an extent. We are made in God's image and assuming that means some of his nature has been imparted unto us, we should be able to love. It's just not the perfect love God himself offers.�
@Mydreamtime,
I believe you�re speaking of God�s common grace, which I too believe in. But again, it is God�s common grace, and not natural man that is enabling himself to operate out of that grace.
Consider what Paul says of his natural self in Romans 7:18� �For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.� = Nothing good? Question. Was Paul capable of love before his conversion? Surely he had thought so, and had acted upon that love many times � while at the same time persecuting the church, and that in the �name� of �love�. A love that�s foundation was not the indwelling Spirit of Christ, but instead a love produced and sustained by Paul�s flesh at that time.
Proverbs 12:10 �A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.�
An action in itself cannot be qualified as love. Truth is more basic than meaning, and meaning is more basic than love. Apart from Truth and Meaning, which both have to do with the presence of Christ, an action is rendered meaningless � regardless of how meaningful it may seem = Mathew 7...22"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles (all acts of love)?' 23"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.'
@Stegoodie,
�If you are the wisest, most intelligent man in history but you use it for only yourself, what good does it do? If I sacrifice everything I am for something but never loved others, who notices? I think the whole point is that one should be focused outward because, after all, isn't that how Christ loves us?�
@Mydreamtime,
Keep in mind that giving one�s possessions to feed the poor and surrendering one�s body to be burned is definitely not focusing on one�s self � it would seem. Yet it profits the giver nothing?
Paul says that what is not done by faith is sin. Is he speaking of faith in Christ? Or is there another faith that is acceptable to God?
