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First Moravian Church of Dover |
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FIRST MORAVIAN CHURCH of DOVER
319 N. Walnut Street
Dover, OH 44622
(330) 364-8831
(330) 602-6711 Fax
WELCOME to Dover First Moravian's Web Site!
We hope that you will find our web site to be enjoyable and informative...
WHAT IS LOVE?
Ah, February, the time for Valentines and love. Or so the card and candy makers and the flower growers tell us. The philosophers and Hollywood writers have suggested many reasons for love and many definitions of love, including things like “love is a manysplendored thing”, “love is blind”, “love makes the world go round”, and love is passion and romance. But what does the Bible tell us about love, and are there some fables we can just ignore?
Three Fables
1. Love is something one "falls into," something out of one's control, something that cannot be helped. The Bible says nothing about falling in or out of love. The Bible talks about making a decision and sticking to it, about not lying or changing our minds because we “feel” like it.
2. Romantic love is the basis for marriage. Biblical love is a covenant or agreement between people and God. It has nothing to do with feelings of romance. Sure romance is nice and it is often part of marriage, but it is not the Biblical basis of marriage. People who covenant with each other learn to love each other.
3. Loving oneself is basic and fundamental to a happy, stable life. The Bible says that the greatest form of love is when someone is willing to die for someone else – not when a person loves him or herself enough. Popular thought says "I'm not getting what I want out of this relationship. I don't think I love you anymore." Christianity, on the other hand, expressing itself in self-denial, self-humbling, self-forgetfulness, and self-sacrifice, provides a rock-solid foundation for a marriage that sings.
Three Kinds of Love
1. Eros - Romantic Love: This passionate, self-centered, uncontrollable, intoxicating "love" is promoted by virtually every sector of our society. Romance novels, motion pictures, floral companies, and record labels feed on the public appetite for eros. It is not synonymous with Biblical love. In fact, eros is love in its lowest form. Biblical love is something entirely different. Yet when most people "look for love," claim to be "in love," or express love to someone else, they are thinking in terms of eros. To them, romance is life's supreme glory and matrimony's supreme achievement.
2. Phileo - Friendship Love: The Greek word phileo, translated 'love' in the New Testament, conveys the thought of friendship love. It conveys the idea of a common interest. Is the friendship kind of love important in a relationship? Yes. In fact, God gave marriage, first and foremost, to satisfy man's need for companionship. Togetherness is essential to a godly marriage. Togetherness is the key word here, not mere eographic togetherness, but a sharing of the blessings and burdens, laughter and tears, hopes and disappointments, of every day experience as a team and a unit.
3. Agape - Sacrificial Love: It is the kind of love that God has for His elect. God does not love His people because He is attracted to them, for there is nothing attractive in them. God's love is an act of the will, not of the emotions. It is something He decides to do, not something He passively feels. The key words in the definition are "commitment," "others," "giving," and "self-sacrifice." In simple terms, love is a way of behaving toward another person, not a nebulous, mystical emotion. In Scripture, love is a command. We are commanded to love God and love our neighbor. (Mt. 22:37)
In specific terms, I Corinthians 13:4-8a profiles the characteristics of Biblical love: “It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” NIV
Did you notice that this does not describe what love is, but what love does? These are not adjectives that describe love. It does not say "Love is beautiful" or "Love is wonderful." Instead, it uses verbs, words of action, to describe love: "Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous, self-promoting, proud, rude, selfish, angry or suspicious...." If you really love someone else, you will treat them with patience, kindness, and unselfishness. Do you realize what that means? That means that when one is impatient, unkind, jealous, and rude to someone else, he does not love that other person.
Do you love your spouse? Are you committed to unselfish living for the long haul? Is that commitment the sole factor in the future of your relationship? If not, then start now. Take the initiative to be kind. Bear insult and injury meekly. Go out of your way to make your partner happy. Forget about receiving anything in return. Commit yourself to a life of serving your mate. Away with rude remarks, biting sarcasms, irritability, judgmental criticism, and petty egotism. Sacrifice your own happiness for the happiness of your companion. Focus on being the kind of person God requires you to be and don't attempt to make your mate hold up their side of the bargain. After all, you promised to love, until death, period. Regardless of your spouse's behavior, you vowed to love. This is the kind of love that God commands.
Summarization of Thinking Biblically about Love by Michael Gowens.
In Essentials - Unity; In Non-Essentials - Liberty; In All Things Love.
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Created on 2003-02-04 10:24:27 by install
Updated on 2009-02-19 15:43:58 by kwassem
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