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Weekly Wisdom Winnows
by Lisa Mendenhall
Do you "love" God? Are you "in love" with Christ? Do you "love" the Holy Spirit? How do you know? Is their a way to measure to see how much we love God? Can we love Him more or less?
First you have to realize that the love the Bible talks about is not "a feeling". Feelings can follow the action of love but feelings are not the measuring stick for love of God or love of one another. So what is?
20 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? 21And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
Okay, I want to point out 2 things here, Once again I want to remind you, Love is not a feeling it is an action. How do I know this? The Vines Expository Dictionary, says this about the word love(agape);
Agape expresses the essential nature of God. This love can only be known by the action it prompts. Self will or self pleasing is the opposite of the love of God. Agape(love) whether exercised toward brethren or men in general is not an impulse from the feelings. It does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered. This love seeks the welfare of all.Also I want to point out verse 21, IF love was a feeling and God says we have to love the brothers if we love God, He would not have had to make it a commandment. Did you noticed He commands us to love Him and commands us to love our brother. If love was that ooey, gooey, mushy feeling we get in our flesh, He wouldn't have to command us to do anything, our feelings would do it for us!
Did you have to command your spouse to fall in love with you? No, it just happened. But what happened when the feelings, subsided? Then you had a choice to make, learn to love them the way God said or go through your marriage miserable thinking, "I made a mistake". No, you didn't! The fleshly feelings lifted and you were left with the action of "walking out the love walk". Now God is not talking about your natural feelings here. If He was He would not have been justified in telling us to "love our enemies". Do you "feel" like loving your enemies?
Okay, if I can't go by my feelings then how do I know I love God and love others?
What does this verse say? If we love Him we will what? KEEP HIS WORD! Keep His commandments. Now we know we are going to fail and miss the mark. He is talking about a lifestyle of keeping His word.
2John href="http://members.liveasif.org/jscripts/fckeditor/editor/fckeditor.html?query=2jo+1:6&translation=nkj&st=1&new=1&sr=1&l=en">2 John 1:6God says that under the New Covenant, there is only one commandment. To love the Lord with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself. That one command fulfills all other commandments. This is the only commandment you have to keep and if you are working at keeping this one you are automatically keeping all others. So one way to measure how much we love God is to see how much we are walking in love toward others.
So can my love for God and others grow or diminish? Let's see what God's word says.
Jude href="http://members.liveasif.org/jscripts/fckeditor/editor/fckeditor.html?query=jude+1:2&translation=nkj&st=1&new=1&sr=1&l=en">Jude 1:2 Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Philippians href="http://members.liveasif.org/jscripts/fckeditor/editor/fckeditor.html?query=php+1:9&translation=nkj&st=1&new=1&sr=1&l=en">Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment,1Thessalonians href="http://members.liveasif.org/jscripts/fckeditor/editor/fckeditor.html?query=1th+3:12&translation=nkj&st=1&new=1&sr=1&l=en">1 Thessalonians 3:12 And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you,
In these three verses it says that love can be multiplied, abound and increase. That Sounds like to me love can grow!
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.
Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Matthew href="http://members.liveasif.org/jscripts/fckeditor/editor/fckeditor.html?query=mt+24:12&translation=nkj&st=1&new=1&sr=1&l=en">Matthew 24:12 Revelation href="http://members.liveasif.org/jscripts/fckeditor/editor/fckeditor.html?query=re+2:4&translation=nkj&st=1&new=1&sr=1&l=en">Revelation 2:4In these two verses it talks about your love growing cold and leaving your first love, so I would also say that your love can diminish!
So how do we keep in the love of God and keep it going strong? By practicing walking in love, towards God, towards others and towards ourselves. We don't need to go by how we feel and we have to be a doer of the word. We ought to esteem others better than ourselves. We have to allow God to do a cleansing work in us to cause us to be unselfish and think on those things that will edify others and not tear them down. There are a lot of things to cause your love for God and others to grow. Dig in the word of God and find out what God says about it. You will be glad you did!!!
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father's who sent Me.
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'To separate the chaff from (grain) by means of a current of air. To rid of undesirable parts. To separate or get rid of (an undesirable part); eliminate: winnowing out the errors in logic. ...separate grain from chaff...separate the good from the bad...examine closely in order to separate the good from the bad; sift...' (www.dictionary.com) 'This study gave me direction and focus for my teaching. God had placed a longing in my heart to teach the body of Christ how to separate from carnal thinking and rid themselves of old ways that hinder their Spiritual growth. I desire to see them live victoriously, by the 'higher ways' of God's wisdom.'
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