Love and Life and people etc.!

lmaopml

So what does the word 'love' mean anyway? A really short very over used and big little word.

It's used so flippantly sometimes, but what really constitutes somebody you know who loved you, how did you 'know' it? Could you give an 'ode' to them here?

My Dad loved me, he worked so hard, he maintained a smile while doing it, and he had joy and a sense of humour and a notion of what is anti humour I still recognise. So dry!

So, Christians what is 'love' then, what does it involve?

We know St.Paul on 'love', but real life experiences, and a proper ode to those who really 'loved' you.

twg73

St. Paul in 13 Corinthians speaks about love. He uses the word Agape. Today in English when a guy says to a Girl after a week that he "Loves" her or we hear they made "Love". The greek word for this would be Eros rather than agape.

To love someone means that the person means so much to you that you would never abandon them, you always want to be with them, give your whole to them. Even if they become old, fat,sick, disabled, sick.

Sex is one small expression of real love.

Everyone who looks for love (in its true form) looks for a person who will be with them forever, love them for who they are, be open with them. give their life for them. (Take a song from Bruno mars on love and you see what society thinks).

The problem today is that people too often first experience the Eros love in the relationship and never get to real love. Once sex changes, so does the relationship. There is a value to leaving sex to later in the relationship so that you build a relationship on love, it may be seen as Christian, but its also a very human factor.

Of Course there are Christian couples who fall out and separate, But the reality is the Christian Ideal of love, is the same Ideal that everyone wants. Nobody is an Island. Everyone would like somebody to love and be loved, unconditionally, totally as they are (Did I just quote something for Bridget Jones? )

The Ultimate love that never fails is Gods love.

Crystalium

The purpose of life is love. To love and serve God and to love and serve others.

Yet so many of us do one but not the other.


Many years ago a newspaper once ran an article asking the question "What's wrong with this world ?"

Shortly afterwards the editor received this short but profound letter :

"Dear Sir, with regard to your article asking 'What's wrong with the world', the answer is me, Yours Sincerely GK Chesterton "

It reminds me, that all of us must first be the change we want to see in the wider world. That change is love.


One other matter that worries me greatly is the relatively recent false teaching that's crept into Christianity claiming that God's love is unconditional.
I see it preached almost everywhere now.

David Pawson gives a great talk on the Love of God

He starts by proposing never condemn and atheist until you find out what kind of God they were told to believe in :

lmaopml

'Nobody is an island' - I love this, it's so true.

'Never condemn an Atheist....' I don't think we can afford to do that, neither are we qualified to do that, because we're all on our journey.

I think it's best to be ill thought of than to be the one who thinks ill first.

However, I remember reading about the five types of love - C.S. Lewis articulated them so very well and communicated his meaning to anybody interested...

Eros and Agape are two types of love.

Love can be mystifying, but is there anything to learn of it?

Gumbi

Never condemn an atheist... If only that were adhered to

maguffin

Best summed up by Kahlil Gibran.....

"

When love beckons to you follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude; And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips. "

lmaopml

maguffin wrote: »

Best summed up by Kahlil Gibran.....

"

When love beckons to you follow him,
Though his ways are hard and steep.
And when his wings enfold you yield to him,
Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you.
And when he speaks to you believe in him,
Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden.
For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning.
Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun,
So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth.
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself.
He threshes you to make you naked.
He sifts you to free you from your husks.
He grinds you to whiteness.
He kneads you until you are pliant;
And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast.
All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart.
But if in your fear you would seek only love's peace and love's pleasure,
Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love's threshing-floor,
Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.
Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself.
Love possesses not nor would it be possessed;
For love is sufficient unto love.
When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, I am in the heart of God."
And think not you can direct the course of love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself.
But if you love and must needs have desires, let these be your desires:
To melt and be like a running brook that sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart and give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love's ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude; And then to sleep with a prayer for the beloved in your heart and a song of praise upon your lips. "

That's really lovely Maguffin - thank you!

I had to 'google' the author, and I see he was a Maronite - that influence is palpable in this poem, and it really speaks to me as a Christian across times and culture it's still new. Thanks for highlighting a great poet!

Manach

Love can be taken from a theoretical view point and dissected into various components, mapping to the various emotions it engenders. Rather too rational I think. Instead, I'd prefer one practical example from a biography I'm currently reading - a French politician De Gaulle, had a mentally disabled daughter. Every night, no matter what the crisis when he was at home, he'd spent a good portion of the evening with her; coaxing, encouraging, supporting. This is a example of laying aside one's own self and living for another.