What Does The Bible Say About Love Godly Love
If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother. 1 John 4:20-21.
Our love for God is not greater than our love for our fellow men. Godly love does not change according to circumstances. It is rooted and grounded.
The tendency is to want the others to change. We feel that it is difficult to love someone as they are and would prefer that they were different. But this is not what the Bible says about love! This is proof that we are more concerned with our own happiness and comfort than with love for the others we are seeking our own.
But what is love? The truth is that instead of hoping for the others to change, we need to find the sin in ourselves and cleanse that out. The self-interest, know-it-all attitude, conceit, stubbornness, etc., the sin that I find when I deal with others in the course of life. If we cleanse ourselves from these things then we can bear, believe, hope, and endure all things from the others. We love them as they are, and we can pray for them out of a sincere Godly love and concern for them.
Love Loves Thru True Actions
True love is not based on words or hypocritical deeds, but it is based on truthful actions. It doesnt only believe or hope, but it does actions that will make the things it believes or hopes a reality.
Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. 1 John 3:18-19
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13
Bible Verses About Love For Others
At Compassion, Gods love is our motivation for releasing children from poverty. Child sponsorship is a powerful demonstration of Gods love to a child in need. When you sponsor a child you empower them to overcome poverty. You show a child born into extreme fragility that theyre known and valued.
Hilda from Peru was sponsored with Compassion as a child. One of my neighbours told me about Compassion at my local church. I was sponsored through Compassion and started to go to the project every week. I was fed there and learnt how to take care of myself. I learnt I was special and that God loved me. My sponsor wrote me letters, they loved me so much even though we never met in person All I can say is thank you so much for your love which showed me Gods love.
- 1 John 4:19 We love because he first loved us.
- 1 John 4: 8 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
- John 15: 12-13 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down ones life for ones friends.
- 1 Peter 4:8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
- 1 Corinthians 16:14 Do everything in love.
- Colossians 3:14 Above all, be loving. This ties everything together perfectly.
- Ephesians 4:2-3 Be completely humble and gentle be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
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Love Is A Sign That We Are Christians
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments .
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another . It has been, and continues to be, my experience that an almost tangible feeling of love exists wherever a group of Christians gathers. It can be no other way for a people who are filled with Gods love.
What Are The Characteristics Of Love
The characteristics of Love are listed in:1 Corinthians 13:4-8 – “Love suffers long and is kind love does not envy love does not parade itself, is not puffed up does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…” Let’s analyze it with a study from the original Greek text.
Love suffers long – makrothyme = to be patient, not to lose heart, to persevere patiently and bravely, to be slow to anger, to be patient with a weaker or less mature Christian brother or sister
And is kind – chrsteuomai = to show one’s self mild, to be kind, to use kindness
Love does not envy – zlo = not to be heated or to boil with envy and hatred
Love does not parade itself – perpereuomai = not to boast one’s self, to brag, to show off, to give oneself airs
Is not puffed up – physio = not to be puffed up, to bear one’s self loftily, be proud or arrogant
Does not behave rudely – aschmone = not to act unbecomingly, not to behave inappropriately
Does not seek its own – zte = not to seek after, not to seek for, not to aim at, not to strive after heautou = himself, herself, itself, themselves not to seek what is convenient and profitable for us, not to be selfish and self-centered, not to think just of ourselves, not to demand our own way
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Love Puts Privacy In Its Place
Contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.
When times get tough, people begin to tighten up and to take fewer risks. Jesus warned His disciples that the love of the saints would wane in the days of tribulation:
And Jesus answered and said to them, See to it that no one misleads you. For many will come in My name, saying, I am the Christ, and will mislead many. And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars see that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will be famines and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on account of My name. And at that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise, and will mislead many. And because lawlessness is increased, most peoples love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, it is he who shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come .
Times of political tension and religious persecution take a heavy toll on Christians:
What Is True Love In A Relationship According To The Bible
The most terrible of poverty is loneliness and feeling of being unloved and perhaps its true. It would be very hypocritical for someone to claim they do not want or care about being loved.
Because to love is nothing, to be loved is something, to love and be loved is everything
And even though we are designed to love, we also want that love to be true or real love.
I do not think anyone would want to be loved for their money or someone settling for them because they ran out of options and have no choice or someone loving you through manipulation
We all want that love to be authentically genuine. At least everyone has watched a movie before and movies depict true perfectly well in that even the audience gets attached and you feel the emotions of the actors and actresses on TV
And that gives you a glimpse of what true love is and how it feels like for a man or woman, it does not matter
For the meaning of true love, the bible has the best description of love and how it feels like. It points it out 100% accurately that you will not need another definition
The bible also has the best definations of what true love means. These bible verses best describe the meaning of love accurately as it should be
Love in the bible is not stereotyped because the way it is defined and written it does not aside with true love in a relationship, true love in marriage, true between man and woman or true love in the friendship
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What To Look For In A Christian Relationship
When it comes to love and relationships, here are a few helpful tips to guide your decisions:
Build A Friendship First Before diving into a relationship, spend some time getting to know the person just as friends. This can save you some heartache and in the process you may just realize that you are both better as friends without getting the heart involved.
Be authentic Dont try to be somebody that you are not. Faking who you really are is not only a lot of work but it will only get you so far. Dont you want him to fall in love with who you really are instead of the fake version that you are trying to portray?
Bond over Activities Participate in a a variety of activities together. This will help you to see the individual in different situations where you can gauge their reactions. You will be surprised at what you can uncover about a person when they are under pressure. As you do activities together you also build a bond and you grow closer together as a couple. Here are some unique date night ideas on a budget to try.
Quest for love Dont over consume yourself with trying to find love. Instead, embrace your season of singleness and in doing what you love. If God desires marriage for you, dont worry it will happen. After all Sarah had a child in her old age so surely your love life aint too hard for God. Here are some ideas on how you can embrace your singleness as well as some christian books for young adults to read.
Love Your Neighbor As You Love Yourself
According to the bible that is the second greatest commandment of all.
And if you understand it clearly, if you loved anyone, as you loved your self, you would not inflict pain on them or hurt them in any way because you would neither inflict pain on yourself since you love yourself that much
So if true love is when you love everyone else as you love yourself then I think everyone would be happy
In addition, if you loved your neighbor as you loved yourself, you would not break the 10 commandments like killing, stealing or even cheating on your partner. Because you cannot do any of those to another person if you loved them as much as you loved your self
This is not in Corinthians but still counts as to what love is, after all, I believe we all love our selves quite a lot and this what true love feels like, loving someone else as much as you love yourself
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Bible Verses About Gods Unconditional Love
What would you do if you had all the money in the world? For me, I would perhaps invest it in real estate and spend a lot of time traveling. I wouldnt for a second think about giving up that privilege.
Well, not so long ago, God created a perfect world. He also created man giving them the freedom of choice. During their time in the Garden of Eden which you can read more about in Genesis chapters 1-3, man yielded to temptation. The ultimate penalty for sin is death.
Instead of leaving us to our fate however, God sent his only son to die for us. Jesustook off his kingly robe and offered up himself as the sacrificial lamb for us. He sacrificed himself that through him we may have eternal life. It couldnt have been easy to leave what we term the good life to live a life of suffering and pain. Jesus loved you enough to pay the price and sacrifice himself for you.
For even more reminders of Gods perfect love, check out the following Bible verses about Gods love.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 KJV
For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8 KJV
Christian Books About Love
This is not my first time reading a book written by author Lincee Ray. You can check out, Why I Hate Green Beans which dives more into finding your identity in Christ. While I love her humor and the down to earth manner of her writing style I didnt quite feel like the books content fully delivered.
The book Its a Love Story is filled with lots of short stories from the authors life. Stories of romance, her first kiss, she even speaks about her love of movies, music, dancing etc. Thanks to Uncle Waltz Disney we have developed a love for love movies. These love stories often play a big part in our own love stories as well, whether for better or worse.
Through the personal stories that she shares, it helps to paint the picture of the many different ways we love. From something as serious as loving the guy sitting next to you in French class to something as simple as having a love for Starbucks Hot Chocolate. These different loves in our life are often conditional. I love you because of what you can do for me or because its required because we are family after all. There is someone who loves without conditions even to the point of death. The author ends off the book reminding us that there is one who loves us deeply no questions asked. Its a Love Story by Lincee Ray is a fun lighthearted read about different loves and the one that truly matters, Gods unfailing love.
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Gods Instructions For Love
John 15 is one of the Saviors most insightful discussions of how to become a truly loving person. In this chapter, Jesus describes love and provides instructions on how to activate it in our lives. Notice how his description of true love goes against our instincts:
Real love often involves pain, and we try to avoid pain.John 15:2: Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful
Real love involves sacrifice, and we tend to avoid sacrifice.John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this: to lay down ones life for ones friends
Real love is given without conditions, and we tend to want fairness.John 15:3: You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
Real love is selfless, and we are not good at being selfless.John 15:8: This is to my Fathers glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples
What Does The Bible really Say About Love
What does the good book have to say about everyone’s favorite subject at this time of the year — love? Describing a biblical view of love turns out to be no simple matter. First off, the Bible was written in both Hebrew and Greek, and each of these languages has multiple words that we translate as “love.”
There are also understandings of love floating around among different authors. So what the author of the Song of Solomon says about love isn’t the same as what the author of Genesis say, which isn’t the same as what John says, which isn’t the same as Paul … and so on. All of which means that not only is there no single view of love in the Bible but any larger scheme you propose by which to organize these various treatises on love will inevitably fall short.
Nevertheless it may still be a useful, if far from perfect, endeavor. To get at it, I’ll borrow the classic formula that distinguishes between three Greek words: eros, romantic, passionate love, from which we get our word “erotic” phileo, the love of great friends and siblings, from which we get “Philadelphia,” the “city of brotherly love” and agape, parental, self-sacrificing love that seeks only the welfare of the other. All three kinds of love are represented in the Bible, which means that all three are considered to be created and blessed by God.
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Biblical Truths To Affirm
1. I believe God offers incredible, deep peace to those who love Him and obey what He commands .
3. I believe God is rich in unfailing love to all who love Him, trust Him, confess their sins, experience His forgiveness, and obey Him wholeheartedly .
That, my friends, is what biblical love is and what it looks like in our lives. Enjoy!