Got that love feeling?

Before I go too far with this I need to mention that I received a couple responses to my last blog to which I had to give due consideration.  It has been an incredible week of deeper thought, considerations, and prayer. 

The bottom line is that what I believe to be true about “love” really doesn’t change.  However, the more research I did in regard to the Greek words philia and agape the more inconsistency I found.  The following statement can be found in Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words as found at www.blueletter.bible.org.

“Agapao and the corresponding noun agape present "the characteristic word of Christianity, and since the Spirit of revelation has used it to express ideas previously unknown, inquiry into its use, whether in Greek literature or in the Septuagint, throws but little light upon its distinctive meaning in the NT.”

In other words, because of the very nature of the interpretation, we find great conflict in gaining an understanding of exactly what and how these words (including  phileo and philia) were used in their various forms throughout the New Testament.

What I am proposing is this….There is no disagreement that during Christ’s time here on earth, and in the culture into which He was brought forth, there were various forms of the word “love” that conveyed differing aspects of the “love” relationship.  However, is it possible that in our desire to understand the subtle differences between them we have confused the very nature of God’s purpose for coming here and walking with us?  My point is that God came to earth in the form of a man to make tangible the concept of being in a relationship with Him, to be His friend, and to see this relationship in the most intimate way.  This is fundamental to understanding “Grace” and the “love” He has for us.  Even more so, it is fundamental in the love He desires for us to have toward Him.

Because there is so much confusion around the Greek interpretations of these words I am going to drop the word “Agape” and simply discuss a deeper view of love and what it means to our journey.

Here is what I prepared for this week;  I hope you enjoy:

I feel like we have finally arrived, this is where it all is, what we are all looking for, what God wants for us, and what we want for others.  This is it----or is it?

I know what you are about to say—but Jeff, you said that the foundation of love is Christ saying:

'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' "This is the great and foremost commandment.  "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'  "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."

Yes, that is true, I did, but….now we must go deeper.  To fully understand love we must fully understand that it is not the destination; it is part of the destination and merely a means to an end.  Herein lays one of the biggest challenges of the modern church.  To a huge extent we have come to believe that this Christian journey is as simple as loving God and loving others.  It is, but the problem is, we don’t really understand what that looks like.  This goes back to our confusion over the definition of “love”, misunderstandings of God’s commandments, and the inability we have in overcoming our flesh perspective of these things.

Let me ask you a question, have you ever heard stories of people being led into awful situations by people who appear to be willing to “accept them right where they are”?  This acceptance lacks judgment, is fully embracing, and provides encouragement.  Because of this It has the look of God’s face but really is nothing more than evil portraying itself as God.  This form of “love” has an agenda of seducing the person into joining something, doing something, or becoming something for the sole benefit of the one extending the “love”.  Bottom line, the motivation is selfish and at a total disregard for the well-being of the one being manipulated.

So now you ask, “Jeff, are you saying that God is manipulating us through His love”?  If you want to see manipulation as a bad thing my answer would be no, if you want to see it as a good thing then I would say yes.  In other words, evil teaches people to take on the face of God for the intent of leading others back to itself and into a life of perpetuating more evil.  On the other hand, God teaches people to take on His face for the intent of leading others back to Himself and into a life of that which looks like Him and embraces everything that He is.  At the end of the day we have to realize that it is evil that is selfish and God that is selfless.  God is not doing it for any other purpose than for us.  He wants to lead us back to Him so that we can spend eternity with Him.  In other words, this is all about helping us choose life over death, His ways over the ways of the flesh, and eternity with Him over eternity with those who choose flesh over spirit.  My biblical reference for this comes from Deuteronomy 4.

Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments…, so that you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you…. "So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'  "For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him?  "Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

Herein lays the most simplified summary of God’s plan of salvation for the world through His chosen people.  Let’s break it down a little:

• God gives His people a way of life,
• He calls this way of life “their wisdom and understanding”,
• He asks His people to see His promised blessings not as manipulation but as “love”.
• They were to embrace this “wisdom” as love and be transformed from flesh to spirit,
• People being Spirit led are free to receive unending blessings without risk of perversion,
• In their extensive blessings and great understanding they were to love and bless the nations,
• Through this extension of love the nations would be led to:
• God, and
• His way of life (His statues and judgments).

So where this has led us is that true love takes on the look of God’s face but has a desire of leading toward good and away from evil.  Saying this another way, true love leads us toward a life dedicated to listening to the Spirit and away from a life dedicated to listening to the flesh.  And finally, true love has the desire of freeing us from the bondage of this world where as false love has the desire of leading us deeper into bondage of the things of this world.  It really is this simple.

Next week’s blog is going to look into what God is leading us toward, His character, and how Christ was able to summarize that Loving God and our neighbors are the great command on which the whole Law and the Prophets depend.  For now it is enough to understand that Agape is not the end of the journey, it is simply a part of the experience, and a conduit for a deeper deliverance into what God desires for us.

Several blogs ago I made the statement “love is not just a commitment but a feeling".  It is finally time to go into more depth on what I mean in this statement.  I hope none of us believe that God loves us because He is committed to do so, that it is what He “has to do”, or that He is somehow obligated to love us.  How many of us would want our spouses, parents, or children to “love us” because of some legalistic mentality that requires it?  This perception makes love sound like a yoke, a massive wooden harness that keeps us moving in the right direction in regard to the relationships we have in our lives.  Is this really what God wants for us?  Is there any freedom or liberty in that?  Is this being “one” with Him?

Here is how I see it:

• Love is the very nature of God,
• We were created in His image so Love is the very nature of our soul’s being,
• As His, we choose to live in harmony with the Spirit which is to extend His love to others,
• Through this process we experience the sensation of living in harmony with our design,
• When we live in harmony with our design we are one with God,
• The feeling of living in harmony with God eclipses anything obtainable through the flesh,
• Through this process others feel the love of God as it moves through us,
• The feeling of being loved by God is only second to the feeling of loving as God (being one with Him).

The major points of the above are that:

• The love commitment is really a commitment to listen to the Spirit (to live out faith in Christ),
• Loving God’s way delivers us into freedom as we experience the sensation of being one with Him and choose this sensation over the sensations offered in flesh living (our freedom from bondage),
• Feeling the love of God as it comes from another leads us into a place where we can finally see ourselves as He sees us, accept ourselves as He accepts us, and begin the long journey of trusting Him with our lives (the beginning of our journey toward spiritual freedom).

In other words I see true love, the nature of God, as having two aspects, an extension and a response.  The response is the feeling of receiving that love as a transforming and healing power that compels us to follow, trust, and be healed.  The extension is a powerful feeling of unity with Him as we extend that love to others.  Both are feelings, the response is the feeling of being loved, the extension is the feeling of being one with God.  Because the extension is Spirit led it is pure and true.  The interesting thing is that for it to be fully Spirit led it must meet the other person where they are, free of judgment, and lacking any agenda.  The reality is, it meets them where they are in their flesh filled world.  Their response to this love is totally about their flesh but in response to something that is totally about the Spirit.  It is here where flesh and spirit unite and where God brings about incredible miracles before our eyes.

This can only happen when what we extend has no agenda.  We must come to realize that the agenda is God’s, our role is to extend His love and to live in freedom from the things of this world.  In doing these simple tasks we shine His face on those that He brings into our presence while standing witness to what is true.  What we get out of it is as much God’s agenda as what we show others through it; we come to understand what it is to be one with Him.

There are so many tripping hazards and so many ways where we can go astray.  These are tough discussions, but at the end of the day we must ask ourselves….what is my true motivation?  Where is my heart in what I am saying and what I am doing?  Am I being selfish or am I being selfless?  Am I being of this world or am I being led by the Spirit?  Are my actions standing witness to a patient, kind, loving, righteous, and Holy God?  Am I truly trusting God with my life?  And, am I truly trusting God with the lives of others?  Am I leading them to God or back to myself?  Am I offering them healing or expecting it from them?  Am I meeting them where they are?  Am I accepting them for who they are?  Am I allowing myself to become fully invested in their hurts, pains, trials, and tribulations?  Am I willing to go before God in their behalf and ask God for their forgiveness?  Am I willing to see the world through their eyes?  Am I willing to see how far they have come and stop judging them based on how far I think they need to go?  Am I willing to die for them?  To take on their sins?  To bear their cross?

Am I willing to see what Christ sees, feel what Christ feels, and offer myself as if I were Him?  This is what it is to love.  This is what it is to shine God’s face on a hurting and desolate world while leading them back to our father.  This is what it takes to experience God and be delivered into all that He desires for us.

Next week we are going to take our foundational scripture and look into the relationship between the Law and the Prophets and what it is to Love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.  We will look into how critical this is in our journey to love others as ourselves, and how this aspect of our relationship with God is paramount in our being fully delivered into the peace and joy He desires so deeply for us.

If you are willing, I would encourage you to look deeply into yourself this week.  As you progress through your days contemplate a few questions:

• Am I getting bogged down with life because I am seeing it from my flesh perspective?
• Am I getting bogged down with people because I am seeing them from my flesh perspective?
• Am I willing to let God show me things from His perspective?
• Am I willing to do and say what the Spirit is asking me to do and say?
• When I listen to the Spirit, am I taking the time to see what He can accomplish through me and to embrace the feeling of being one with Him?
• Am I taking the time to outwardly acknowledge to myself the peace, joy, and sense of well being found in listening to the Spirit, letting God flow through me, being one with Him, and rejecting my fleshly desires?
• Am I going to use the feeling of this experience to grow my ability to reject the flesh and embrace the Spirit?

I pray that God has moved your heart to see and understand what it is to truly “love as He loves”, to let go of some of the attitudes, thoughts, or ideas that have left you less than effective in your ability to let Him shine through you, and that this blog will somehow bring greater joy into your life and depth to your relationship with Him.