Category: Loving people

Love Others-Feeling or Doing?

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We as Christians, know what we are commanded by Jesus himself in John 13:34, that we should love one another, and the world will know, that are his disciples. And it is easy to understand, because God is Love. But loving others is a command, and it is not about what or how we feel about others.

You see, the Agape love of God, is more to do with us doing something to others or for others, rather than feeling loving them, or feeling love for them. I do not think Jesus commanded us to feel love for others but gave us a command to love others. And a command, is something we obey and do, rather than a feeling. And anyway, we can not force ourselves to feel love for other people anyway.

But the command from God to love one another, is tightly related to what we are also commanded by Jesus to do to others, just as we would like them to do to us. Do you see that, Jesus told us to DO to others as we would like them to do to us. So, it is all about doing something to others, and not just a feeling or love.

Sometimes, we actually, do not feel very loving to particular people, and we know, that we do not feel love in our hearts about them. Well, what does that mean? Does it mean, that we should not do anything good or positive to them, just because we do not feel love in our heart for them? I do not think so. No matter what we feel about others, we are commanded to do to them, just as we would like them to do to us.

Yes, of course, it does not always mean, that others will do to us, just as we want them to do for us, but that is the goal, that is the command from heaven, on which we base what we will decide to do to others. Notice, I said decide, not feel, because that is what the command to love others is about. Because we want to obey God, that is why we decide to do them good, even if we do not feel like doing it.

What about our enemies, people who do not like us, and are willing to do anything to hurt us, even without a cause? Naturally, we do not feel very loving towards our enemies, do we. Often, if we are honest, we can actually feel angry towards them, for treating us unfairly, hurting us without a cause. But, we are commanded by Jesus to love them. So, on one side of the coin, we can feel angry about our enemies, but on the other side of the coin, we can decide to say or do something good for them, because we are commanded so by God. It is not so easy sometimes to do that, but the Holy Spirit, by his love which is in our hearts, will help us to do so, in order for us to do, what we are commanded by God.

Love is Fault Blind

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It is easy if we do not love our neighbour, to start looking at their faults. The Bible says that love covers a multitude of sins. We should not be like the Pharisees, who did not emphasise love for their enemies, but were just looking to find out, what Jesus was not doing right, trying to find fault with him, although, it was never possible and never could be, to find fault, with the Son of God, who is perfect and Almighty God, who does not make a mistake.

​May God help us not to be like the Pharisees who broke all records of fault finding, and be like Jesus, who loved, despite of the sinful state of human beings, by being a friend of sinners.

You see, God does not like, some of the things we do, which are not appropriate according to his standards, but he still loves us, and has forgiven us in Jesus. 

Love is fault blind, meaning it goes over the shortcomings and mistakes of people. That is why Jesus said that he is interested in mercy for people, and not sacrifice. 

There was an occasion, when some of the disciples of Jesus, wanted to call fire to fall from heaven, and to burn some people, who were around them. But Jesus did not approve that. All that those disciples could see at that time, was the mistakes of those people, and they could not see further than that, but Jesus did see further, and wanted mercy for those people, and not to make them like a burning sacrifice or kill them. He came to give people life, and was the friend of sinners.

When we concentrate on the shortcomings and sins of people around us, we become blind to the good in them, and we become love blind, instead of being fault blind. God wants us to be more fault blind and not love blind, because he is Love, and because that is why he sent his Son Jesus, to die for sinners, and call them to salvation, and not to kill them. God always desires mercy before looking for punishing someone for their sins. He is looking for repentance from people, and not to kill them, and and forget about them. He wants to take repentant and forgiven sinners to heaven. 

We are always fault blind, or love blind, one or the other, but we can not be both, at the same time. The devil is called the accuser. He is the one accusing people for their sins before God, just as he did with Job. He is the master fault finder. God on the other hand, is always merciful and gracious, wanting to forgive people their sins, and to overlook their mistakes or sins, because of what Jesus did for humanity.

Train Wives to Love Husbands

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The relationship of a wife and husband in this world, is more based on how they feel for one another, if they feel romantic, if they feel in love or not. Once the feelings of love become less, and there is no anymore a feeling of love, they say to their spouse, “I do not love you anymore.” 

But for us Christians, that is a different story. You see, God has commanded us to love each other. That in itself indicates, that no matter how we feel about somebody, we must love them. Now, there are different types of love, and in the Greek New Testament, there are different original Greek words used, to describe. For example, there is the ‘phileo’ love and the ‘agape’ love, but they are different. One is more to do with feelings, and the other is more to do with action. 

In Titus 2:4, it says that older women, should train the younger women, to love their husbands. But what if the young woman says, that she does not feel love anymore, for her husband. Well, it does not matter, because if she and her husbands are Christians, then they are commanded by God, to love each other. Although the word ‘agape’ is not used in the original Greek text for Titus 2:4, the principle of the older women training the young women to love their husbands, still remain, regardless of how those young women, feel about their husbands. 

It is like the command from Jesus, for us Christians, to love each other. I am sure that God did not mean that we should feel love for each other, because our feelings of love, are not the basis of our faith, but the Word of God is. We are commanded to love each other as Christians, and God does not care how we feel about each other. God did not say that we should love one another, if we feel so, but if we do not feel love for one another, then can not be loving towards each other. No, God commanded us to love each other. In the same way, God has commanded that husbands love their wives. That is a command, and it does not matter, if the husband feels loving toward his wife. He is still commanded to love his wife by God, and that command is much to do with what the husband does, than to do with how the husband feels.

Some Straight Talk About Eliminating Loneliness

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Do you struggle with loneliness? Do you feel lonely most of the time?

Even if you do, you must never forget, that if you are a born again Christian, you can not be alone, even if you think you are! Why? Because once you give your life to Jesus, he never leaves you alone! Never, just as he has promised!

Yes, ofcourse you need a human connections too, and that is vital for your well-being, health and life! But never give up hope! Why? Because from the very beginning of the creation of man on earth, God was concerned that Adam was feeling lonely! From the very start! God cared, and God cared so much that Adam felt alone, that he gave him a nap, and created the woman, to be his companion! That was God’s intention and idea, that many should not be alone, and even God himself said very clearly in his Word, that it is not good, for a man to be alone!

Listen, That case with Adam feeling lonely and God being concerned with it so much, that he created another human being to be with him, should show you enough evidence, that God cares for your loneliness, and that God does not want you to be alone, even if now, you are!

When the Bible tells us that God cares for us, and that we should cast all our anxiety to him, that includes your situation of feeling lonely, and being lonely! God cares to resolve and eliminate your loneliness! How? You do not need to know how God will resolve your suffering of loneliness, but continue to believe and trust him, that he will do!

Never give hope that he will take you out of your loneliness, because he knows how much you suffer, because of that, just as much he knew and saw how much Adam was suffering from his loneliness!

Ask God for help, to give you husband or a wife, if you want to get married, or to give you friends, and brothers and sisters in Christ, to be more often in fellowship with them! You will be asking 100% according to God’s will, and the Bible tells us, that if we ask according to God’s will, he listens to us, and we receive what we have asked for!

​The Bible says that if we ask in faith, we receive, not that we may receive, but that we receive what we have asked of him, which is according to his will! So, believe that you have the answer of your prayers, and continue to thank him, everyday for the answer, even if you do not see it, with your physical eyes yet!

And God said in the beginning, that it is not good for man to be alone, and he created Eve, to be companion for Adam, and I am sure, Adam was excited and very happy after that, and never feeling lonely again! That same will happen to you, because you are the beloved child of God, his own treasured possession, for which he cares very much!

Why Forgive? Matthew 18:21, 22, 35

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That is forgiving without limit. That is why Jesus used a big number, to show us that we must always forgive.

Ho many times God forgives us when we sin? Up to seven times? Up to seventy seven times? No he forgives us number of times without limit. That is why, he wants us to forgive without limit.

We may think think that for some of the worse situations in our life, when people sin against us, we can not forgive, because it hurts too much to forgive those who sin against us.

But forgiving is not forgetting. It is not about how we feel. It is about a choice made from us, based on our desire to forgive, because we have been commanded to by God.

God has commanded us to forgive others, because he has forgiven us. He wants us to be like him.

Forgiveness is a part of the image of God in us. The more we forgive, the more we look and act like God, and the brighter his image shines in us. It is about how much we want to be like him.

Small Thing-Big Results James 3:3

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If we look in James chapter 3, we will see that a small thing has an influence and controls big things. The small thing dominates over the big things, that is why our tongue can influence or put on fire our whole life.

Sometimes, we think, that it is the big things in our life, which cause big negative effects, but not according to what James chapter 3 is saying.

If we control the small thing-tongue-according to God’s will, we can control our whole life according to God’s will. That is why in James chapter three it says that horses can be controlled with a bridle and a big ship, can be steered to where we want, by the rudder.