Thursday, January 17, 2008

  • FAITHWords: Love--Not I have but I AM.

    So, for those that know me, I'M BACK!  For those that are joining, it's probably because you are interested in catching up with the talks you've missed or want to review from SecurityCrew meetings, and to you I say--WELCOME IN, SO THAT NEXT TIME I CAN SAY WELCOME BACK!

    My intention with this blog, now that I'm writing regular stuff for my youth group meetings, will be to post up the talks I've been giving at SecurityCrew so that my super-smart (and ridiculously attractive) friends can take the discussion deeper, and my students can begin to learn what theological debate looks like.  The exchange of ideas in a loving setting can be so fun, informative, and beautiful, I want my students to be a part of that.  So let's get going.

    I'll be posting the talks about a week behind, so that we're talking through the week about what we just met about.  I think.  That should work, right? 

    Have fun with this. 

    Pax

    LOVE: Not I have, but I AM.

     

    POPULAR DEFINITION:

    What do you think people believe about love? 

    What are some common words that are associated with love? 

     

    Love is a word that gets used interchangeably with a bunch of other words that are maybe associated with love, but aren’t really love. 

     

    Like is one.  If people really, really like something, they say they love it.  I do it all the time.  I LOVE Chipotle.  I don’t really, because I don’t currently have a relationship with Chipotle, in which we invest time and energy into one another, and spend valuable hours together deciding what it means for us to be in this relationship.  No, I go there, I eat a burrito, and then I leave.  That’s not love, that is super intense enjoyment.

     

    Sex is another one that people often confuse with love.  Ever hear someone say ‘making love’?  Does that mean that two people are actually producing more love?  What if those two people don’t even know each other?  What if those two people actually hate each other, but are having sex?  It happens.  Is that making love?

     

    Emotional attachment is another one.  Sometimes people have a very strong emotional attachment to one another, and they think this is love.  Sometimes it is.  Sometimes, it’s just a really strong emotional attachment.  How do we know the difference?   The primary way is how much sacrifice is involved with the emotional attachment.  How do I get that definition?  All of these definitions involve getting something from someone else to make your life better.  It’s all about what someone can give you, or someone has for you, or something that is good, and you want in your life.

     

    BIBLICAL DEFINITION:

    I think the essential definition for Love in the Bible comes from 1 John 4:8--…God is love.

     

    So, if God is love, then what does that mean?  What do we know about God?  I could spend the next four hundred eternities talking about the attributes of God, and therefore the nature of love, but there is one thing I really want to focus in on.  Love involves sacrifice.  How do I know this?  God is love. 

     

    What is the one most important thing, beyond creating the world, that God has done inside human history?  That’s right, sacrificing His Son, whom He loved, sacrificing Himself, who He was, out of love.  It was out of righteousness, because sin had to be punished, it was out of holiness because people cannot be in relationship with God and have sin in their lives, true.  But it was first and foremost out of love, because God wanted that relationship, God wanted our sins wiped out, so that He could allow us to come near Him.  That means that love defines what has occurred between God and man, from the beginning to the end.  Even when it didn’t seem that way.  Because love is sacrifice.  And we know that because God is love, and He loved us through the ultimate sacrifice.

     

    And the very next two verses say just that: 1 John 4: 9-10 --This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

     

    CONCLUSIONS:

    So, what’s my point?  My point is that, for most of the people in the world love is something that you acquire.  It’s something that you give or get, or someone has for you, or that you need to get from them.  In Bible, that just isn’t the case.  Love is a person--Christ, God, the Holy Spirit—what’s called the Godhead, the Trinity.  When we know what God is like, we know what love is like.  And the big thing that God did for us, while we were still sinners and haters of God, was sacrificed Himself on the cross.  Gave His life, the life of His Son, so that people can come to Him and love Him. 

     

    So love isn’t about ‘I have’ or ‘I need’.  It’s about I AM, that is God. 

     

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