What's love got to do with it?
What’s love got to do with it? Well, it has to do with everything. God is love and everything has to do with Him. To best understand this topic, Please review the videos and outlines: Our Purpose and What is the meaning of life?; Who God is: Love?.
God’s Plan:
Everything in this world is about either magnifying love by contrast or magnifying/glorifying love through actions of love. Actions of love can have love attached or not. We all have a conscience (the laws of God written in our heart and mind) and can perform “actions of love” but only the people that have the Holy Spirit living within them and walking in the Spirit are their “love actions” truly love (see Chart 7). Those who operate solely from their conscience still magnify God because it shows the intent to adhere to His laws in their heart. So why does it glorify God to be saved and actually walk in love rather than operating by conscience or magnifying Him by contrast through sinful actions? Only through love does it return to Him and He is glorified. Love is exalted and completes a cycle. But do we need to keep going with our own physical self and deny the spiritual if God gets magnified either way? No. Love will abound by going with the spiritual; it propagates. Going with the physical shows the need for love, it's not love.
Glorifying God is always our highest good. Our highest good is what God chooses for us to glorify Himself. No matter what our plight, whether we are born without arms, become paralyzed, etc., our situation that God has chosen for us gives us the opportunity to glorify Him. He has a plan and purpose for our lives but He also gives us free will. That means that we get to make our own decisions. His basic plan is that we seek Him and extend love to others. His specific plan for each of us entails our own unique personality and individual circumstances. What if we decide to do something outside of God’s plan? Then He has the ability to implement an alternate plan. As always, love is the focus.
What’s love got to do with: everyday circumstances?
Love applies to our everyday life. For example, if you expect to leave to go to work at a certain time and get delayed, it may have to do with who the Lord wants you to meet at a certain time. Your paths seemingly cross accidentally but He may want you to be a witness to that person, say a kind word, or learn something from them. Or the entire reason for the delay may be that He trying to teach you to stay calm and at peace during the delay by depending on Him. It’s all about love. Focus on what could be happening and how love could be playing a part.
Everyday things like cleaning house, washing the car, and going to work become boring and mundane. God is teaching us love even through things that seem repetitive and mundane. He can teach us spiritual truths by physical examples. As we learn and grow, we can see His plan unfold and we can see the magnificence in His work. We can see Him teaching and growing us.
Sometimes issues that come up in life are for us to talk to other people. Sometimes we need to address an issue like a bill that is wrong, call on a computer question, approach someone about a procedure or policy that company has incorrect, etc. We need to learn to talk to each other, work things out and to keep things in a kind, generous atmosphere. So many people want to dodge confrontation. Confrontation can be a loving act for a person. Confrontation does not mean hate, animosity, or anger. Confrontation is simply addressing an issue. The approach should be to talk about the situation at hand in a calm reasonable manner. The opportunity to love comes in how we decide to treat one another and seeking the truth. When truth is revealed and accepted by each party then love has prevailed. God wants us to meet or interact with others to witness, to be a light, to show morality, to learn from them a skill that will be useful to ourselves or others, or to shape our view. He wants us to be a comfort for others 2 Corinthians 1:3-7.
Illness can be a catalyst for love. It can be for others to help and comfort, to be aware of the physical vs. spiritual reality of this world, and to mold and shape our learning. People unfortunately, often use illness as a venue for destruction rather than love. It is easy to abuse or neglect the sick giving evil great opportunity to prevail. Love thinks no evil (1 Corinthians 13:5). Even more challenging are the sick that do not look ill. We must live by faith, not by sight. If someone tells you that they are sick but you don’t believe them, then you are calling them a liar (and the Holy Spirit if they are saved). The sick are weak and need help. The hardness of our heart causes us to judge with thoughts of evil and hate (see: Definitions). Illness is an opportunity to serve and show love to one another.
A clash in personality is an opportunity for love. Conflict with others due to personality or difference of opinion usually results in an end to the relationship. Sometimes we do need to get away from certain people, set boundaries for ourselves and them if the relationship is toxic but most of the time our hearts are just hard. Instead of intolerance and a hard heart, we need to focus on what we can do for others, their highest good, especially when things are going poorly with our interaction with them. Don’t get fixated on the trial or task at hand. Look at the love needed to be given.
Cover one another (ignore faults that are small, fix their mistakes), think no evil (don’t think badly about them). Think on the things (the things that pertain to their life and situation) of others also. Do their highest good. If you should look the other way on an issue, or if you should give correction, do what is needed. Don’t neglect giving to others what they need. Not telling someone something that they need to know or not giving them something they need is a form of hate (not love).
Why do things often go wrong when working or interacting with family or friends? The hardness of our heart, our sin nature, and the spiritual war in which Satan is allowed to attack are culprits. Satan is allowed to try and pit people against each other so we will adhere to love by forgiving, covering each other’s faults, and reproving each other’s sin. In this war, we constantly have to choose love. We are cranky, selfish, and possess the works of the flesh (Galatians 5: 16-23). That's why sin is still in our physical bodies to wage a war with the flesh against the Spirit, so we will choose love (the Spirit) and thus glorify God. It is quite likely that things will go wrong when working or interacting with family or friends but we still need to pursue those work/interaction relationships. It honors God to have the desire to unify with others and seek to overcome obstacles with love despite the challenges of this war.
Prayer works by love. God answers prayers according to His word and to His glory. Whether He gives you your request or not it is for your highest good. When Christians come together to pray, He is more likely to give them their petition. The coming together and being unified in love gives a great glory to the Lord. Why does prayer work? Because God wants us to love each other.
What does love have to do with: God’s specific plan?
God has a specific plan for each of us. That plan may be that we were born to a wealthy family. Wealth is actually something that needs to be overcome and learn how to manage through love. We may have been born to an alcoholic family, poor or abusive family. We may have been born without arms or without sight. God may have given us a specific gift, a great understanding or IQ, so that we will discover (by His grace) knowledge that can be helpful for society. The knowledge or wisdom that he gives you is not for you only, but for you to extend it to others also. If He gives you a lot of money, He will require that you be a good steward with that money. The money is not to help yourself only but to help others also. It’s always to extend love. If you fall ill to cancer it is for a good reason. It is always to be able to learn, grow, and extend your knowledge and compassion to help others.
What’s love got to do with: the realm of good vs. evil?
God is the maker and creator of this world (by Jesus Christ). He also created evil (Isaiah 45:5-12), He is the potter; He created all. Our conscience that God instilled in us gives us a distinction of right and wrong, good and evil. The nature of evil clearly shows the need for good. Evil has to nash at the righteous. Evil attacks love because it is in the wrong, it vents and projects.
Things happen to us that are part of the good vs. evil war. Satan and his demons cause havoc with governments, leaders, and anyone that they can. They incite people against each other, fuel the craves of the flesh, deceive the masses, etc. Due to our conscience, evil in this world compels us to search for love. Where is the love? Evil is not love but it magnifies it by contrast. There is no love in the world itself because the world is physical. Only by attachment to the spiritual is love attainable. God is spirit, He is love.
Evil shows God’s power. Only by love can evil be conquered. Why does He want to show His power? It shows us that He is the way, He can do all things, and that love is un-matchable, and unsurpassed.
What does love have to do with: Adversity?
Adversity is the hardest to understand of how love is connected to it. So let’s look at an arbitrary example. An elderly woman named Alice is sitting alone at a bus stop waiting for the bus and a man approaches her. He then robs, beats, and leaves her for dead. How is there love in that? First, the man clearly is exhibiting evil behavior. His actions are detestable, immoral and shocking to most of us. This horrible act shows that the war of good vs. evil does exist. His evil shows a complete opposition to love, to God. By the opposition, it shows the magnification of how great love is and the intensity of the need for love. Without God, destruction and death is inevitable but with Him there is life and love. It shows the world that there needs to be something better than this world has to offer and that we need God.
What about the poor elderly woman, Alice, that was beaten and left for dead (although she lived)? How is “love” in this for her? This is where it gets really hard to understand. Why do the innocent suffer at the hands of evil people? Because of love.
When hardship comes, the primary reason may be that God is teaching. If He is not teaching us, He may be teaching others through us. Count it all joy (James 1:2-4) because He is working. He molds and shapes us; makes us holy. If God’s primary purpose here is to teach, what would He be trying to teach Alice through such a horrible ordeal? The things that can be learned are extensive but perhaps she needs to learn to forgive. So many people would be angry and even hate this man if he robbed and beat them. If she is not saved or even if she is and walking in the flesh, hardness and un-forgiveness is almost inevitable. Why should she forgive this man? The consequences of harboring negative thoughts and feelings are far reaching. First, un-forgiveness is toxic to Alice’s own body and spirit. Second, her disposition, words, and actions affect others. Negativity propagates itself in the world. Most importantly, to forgive (giving mercy) is an act of love. God has forgiven us who have received His son, therefore, we must forgive others as we were forgiven. To hold un-forgiveness makes us a judge and Jesus is the only righteous judge - it is His place.
What could God be teaching others by Alice’s horrible ordeal? To seek Him because of the unknown (fear of the world), “this could happen to me.”; to pray for her, she is near death; to teach by her action or reaction to this event. Whether her actions are negative or positive, God could still be teaching others. If her actions are godly, then she would be an example of strength and reliance upon the Lord. If her actions are ungodly and vindictive, then they could teach others not to be like that and how sad her thinking really is. If Alice reacts with fear (manifested as hate, un-forgiveness, vengeance) it will affect others also. She validates the fleshly feeling and disposition of fear that most people hold and thus gives them excuse to justify it. But if she was walking in the Spirit, her actions would be that of love. She would be teaching people that love is a strength and that the strength is not that of flesh but of Spirit.
God brings or allows adversity to teach us, to teach others, to correct a behavior in us, if we're holding iniquity in the heart (un-confessed sin), to bring us to repentance unto salvation, to make us mature, and to bring judgment or chastisement. All of this is because He loves us and it is for our highest good. Sometimes the reason adversity happens is because of the spiritual war. Part of the war is evil forces happening to us. God allows (He does not bring evil upon us but can allow it) this because the plan of the world is not about us; it is about Him. God is magnified by evil and how we act or react. Remember, love must be magnified or glorified. Job was a just man and the spiritual war was allowed to seriously affect his life. He glorified God by not going against Him. Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him...”
Even though adversity is extremely hard to endure at times, the best way to navigate through the ordeal is to focus on love by seeking God and remembering that the purpose of the adversity is always love related.
What’s love got to do with: Teaching us?
The unsaved get taught some of the same things as the saved. God is growing and teaching them. The laws of nature, reap what you sow (known to some as karma), teaches, draws and points to God. The fact that God has the world structured this way shows His love and that the world points to Him (love). He teaches us through life that His word is right and true. The bible reveals the deep truths of life and it points to love.
God teaches us things to fulfill His plan for us. He teaches us to lean on Him, to be content, and to want only Him. He builds our trust in Him and teaches us to keep our eyes on Him. He is teaching the saved to love and the unsaved the motions (acts) of love. The benefits that we get from learning (personal growth - becoming mature, peaceful, content, etc.) are love also.
God puts us through things so we can understand, empathize, help others as they go through trying times, and so we can show love. When things happen in life, God shows you who you are and your growth/maturity level. He draws people unto Him by circumstances, saved and unsaved. When a person is saved and not walking with Him, He will draw them back through circumstances as well as through their spirit. He can’t let them continue being away. Trials can be punishment or chastisement. Don’t mistake God’s patience for idleness (not going to do anything about the sin). He must eventually chastise to correct the behavior because it is the highest good. He would be wrong if he did not and God is never wrong.
God prunes us. Pruning is love. It makes us grow like pruning does to trees. Trials work out of us bad things like pride, impatience, selfishness, envy, etc. We ask God to get us out of the problem but instead we should ask Him what we need to learn. Rather than pulling us out of the circumstances, God takes us through them.
Our adversity may be to prepare us to help others. Sometimes things happen to us and it is not primarily about us, it is for someone else's benefit. After our experience, God may lead us to use what we have learned to help others; to use our learning for the cause of love.
What's love got to do with: Teaching others?
God always allows us to learn or be strengthened when adversity happens but teaching us may not be the primary reason. Things that happen to us might be for someone else to learn from our ordeal. Our action or reaction is crucial. Hardship is an opportunity to show great faith in the Lord (remember Job?); to be an example of that faith. A time of difficulty presents to others the chance to exercise empathy. People need to realize what's going on with others and respect their individuality. Not everyone has the same threshold for pain, growth of patience, or outlook on things. Consider what they have might have gone through in their childhood and why they might think the way they do. Don't be quick to judge. God may be teaching us not to measure each other by our own standard. Measuring by our standard instead of God's is focusing on ourselves. That's why we have such a poor perspective in life because we are thinking about ourselves and our little box (fairy tales). By focusing in on ourselves, we don't have the right perspective. Look at others through eyes of love and see things the way God has set forth the world, and by walking in the Spirit. Looking at other people through His eyes and giving them the benefit of the doubt is an act of love. Through our circumstances God can transform someone's heart. We can be the catalyst for love to abound. Don't despise your hard times, they do so much for you and others.
What’s love got to do with: the church?
The church (assembly of the saved) is supposed to be the embodiment of love. We have the Spirit of God living in us. We are the body of Christ. God’s plan for this world is to allow each individual to choose to love. He lets us affect one another (he designed the world that our action/inaction always has consequences for others) because we are to love one another.
Inside the body of the church are unique individuals with different personalities. Each person is at a different level of learning and growth in their walk with the Lord. God also gives us different talents and spiritual gifts. As our gifts differ in the church, so do the things that God teaches us so we can be used with our experiences and understanding to help one another and edify the church. We are supposed to be of one mind and one body but life is a challenge and a balance. All the diversity of individuals is hard to effectively blend together. It takes Godly unity to succeed. Walking in the Spirit (in love) is the only way to accomplish true unity. Remember, that love is a moment by moment choice.
Love in the church? There are hypocrites in the church! Well, of course there are some. We still have our sinful nature. The church is a help to learn and grow. It is like a hospital for the sick; a place to get well; a place to learn how to love. There are many obstacles that pop up in the church for the members to learn to exercise their love walk. Usually a lack of communication and a lack of understanding are the largest culprits. Most members truly seek to follow what God wants but since it is a spiritual war, Satan has his puppets (the unsaved and some that are saved but prone to his devices) in the mix. Those that disrupt the peace in church often are Satan's puppets or those that walk in the flesh. Adhering to the fleshly nature brings about jealously, envy, and pettiness. Disruption, however, can be in reverse. The majority in the church can be carnal Christians (walking in the flesh) and the ones that cling to truth can be disruptive by trying to mature the church body. Carnal Christians most often say they want truth but in actuality desire the fleshly nature more and deny actual truth. Simply being unified doesn't always mean it is right. Being the personification of God through unification can only be of the Spirit (of love).
One area that is very divisive and misunderstood is money. God uses money for His church to function and to expand. A common statement is, “The church only wants my money”. In a Godly church, this is not true. God himself set forth the giving to the church for his purposes. Unfortunately, many churches abuse this doctrine and thus give a bad reputation to all churches. If a church is walking in love, they will teach that giving is from the heart and not a mandate. It is because of love. God doesn’t need our money but He structured things that we use the world’s system. It is for us to learn how to love. We need to let go of physical dependences (money and possessions) and be willing to give appropriately. There is an appropriateness to giving (priorities); a balance. Always focus on love and let it navigate the giving opportunity.
Unfortunately also, the imbalance of the use of money in the church is seen quite often. Remember, people are learning and growing in how to love so therefore the use of their money is likely not what it should be. A top priority in the use of money is the needs of the saints. Most churches lose focus of what they actually are about; personifying love (God). Trying to love the members within the body of the church becomes imbalanced and often times many are not helped. Granted, some members through their learning (the hard way) have gotten themselves into difficult situations. Even though we bring things upon ourselves, the church should show compassion and love them, helping them through it (there are however, times that it is not the person’s highest good to be helped out of their situation). Also, God set some to be disabled, poor, weak, etc. among the body of believers so others will have to help. We have the ability to give love by helping each other. It is always about giving love. The church collectively, as well as individually, needs to focus on love. James 2:15,16 says “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” How are they being helped by warm wishes? They are not. It is the same thing saying, “I’ll pray for you” and having the ability to help but do nothing. Of course, God wants us to pray and He can help the person in need without our help but almost always He has given the ability to someone among the brethern to help them or to the church collectively. Why? It is about love. God allows hardship and adversity into our lives for others to be a vessel of His love and minister to them. God gives us and others opportunity to love, to pass or fail at the situation before us. Therefore, if a church member needs help and asks, and little or no help is given, the choice not to love was done. We must remember that God places people in the body as it pleases Him. Some have been given more in health and/or money. To whom more is given, more is expected by God. Those who have been given more should have none left over and those that have little should not lack. 2 Corinthians 8:14,15 says, “...your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: as it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.”
Another area that the church has a misplaced understanding is in giving to evangelism (and missions). Evangelism is NOT the reason we are here on this planet (although it is a large part of God’s plan). Because of this misconception, love is missed and misplaced. A lot of churches believe that the sole reason that God leaves Christians here after they are saved is to win the lost and that if wasn’t for that, He would simply just take them home. Not so. Even if no one else needed to be saved, God still might leave us here on earth. Why? To choose whether or not to love one another. There is still the good vs. evil and physical vs. spiritual war that challenges us to seek love which glorifies God. Remember, the meaning of life is God, His love, and glorifying Him. The spiritual war is seen within the structure or dynamic of the church body (the saved). The church often will stumble at their giving by giving wrongly. They operate off of feelings (feelings are not love) instead of instruction from the word of God. Feelings are fleshly, and carnal based. The less mature Christian operates his behavior from his feelings instead of direction from the Holy Spirit. They often will help people in the community instead of their own members first. They feel good being able to say that they are reaching out to the community’s needs but sadly they sacrifice their own brother’s needs to do this. Repetitive aide to some within produces contempt and negative feelings where as helping those outside the church produces good feelings. Regardless of feelings, the bible clearly teaches that the saved of God are a family (brothers and sisters in Christ). It is wrong to give to the neighbor while your own family suffers. 1 Timothy 5:8 explains that if any provides not for his own he is worse than an infidel. Is it wrong to give to others? Of course not as long as your own is cared for. Love is to be extended to all; in word and deed. Many churches believe that the entire existence of the church is focused around the “great commission” (Matthew 28:19,20). Again, they take money from the needs of the brethren to give to missionaries who seek to deliver the gospel to the lost. In Matthew 15:26, Jesus confirms that it is not right to take away from your own and give to others. Even though this scripture is speaking about a spiritual subject that is quite deep, the physical example still holds true. The church often mistakes feelings for the plight of the lost as love. It is heart wrenching that so many souls are lost and their eternal destiny is hell. Yes, the church is to reach the lost and dying world but there is an order to things. The old saying stands true, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link”. All parts of the body are affected by one part. The body needs to be as strong as possible in all aspects: physically, emotionally, and most of all spiritually. If the church neglects its own, that is not love. The order of love is this: love from God, to love yourself (in the venue of the church, Christians are one body and to love each other as their self) and then to others.
So what’s love got to do with it? Growing and learning with your Christian brothers and sisters, and maintaining a desire to seek love honors God. If we walk in love, we will do what is right and will draw the lost with our love for one another. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” John 13:35. God structured the church that we need to use everyone’s gifts, different personalities, and diverse experiences so that we can come together to form one body in love. Only by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit can we come together as one. Love is the only way to truly function effectively. A body of love can truly reflect God and change lives.
What’s love got to do with...?
Everything
God gives us things to go through and we should look at it as all good. He is teaching us, growing us, or showing other people through our problems what they need to learn. We should count it all joy (James 1: 2-4) because we are being used by Him for his glory. Our reason to live: to do God’s highest good (love Him, love your neighbor as yourself), to do His will and fulfill His plan. By overcoming the physical and dying to self, shows our love to God.
Debunk your fairy tale! It’s not about you. Count it all joy; trials mean God is working with you. The godliest people often are those that have suffered. If God doesn’t change your circumstances then thank Him because it is your highest good. Romans 8:28 “...all things work together for good...”
Love transforms the way we think and look at life, not through rose colored glasses but with righteousness, kindness, compassion, and truth. Keep in mind, follow the Holy Spirit trail. Our day is directed by Him for the cause of love.
God’s Plan:
Everything in this world is about either magnifying love by contrast or magnifying/glorifying love through actions of love. Actions of love can have love attached or not. We all have a conscience (the laws of God written in our heart and mind) and can perform “actions of love” but only the people that have the Holy Spirit living within them and walking in the Spirit are their “love actions” truly love (see Chart 7). Those who operate solely from their conscience still magnify God because it shows the intent to adhere to His laws in their heart. So why does it glorify God to be saved and actually walk in love rather than operating by conscience or magnifying Him by contrast through sinful actions? Only through love does it return to Him and He is glorified. Love is exalted and completes a cycle. But do we need to keep going with our own physical self and deny the spiritual if God gets magnified either way? No. Love will abound by going with the spiritual; it propagates. Going with the physical shows the need for love, it's not love.
Glorifying God is always our highest good. Our highest good is what God chooses for us to glorify Himself. No matter what our plight, whether we are born without arms, become paralyzed, etc., our situation that God has chosen for us gives us the opportunity to glorify Him. He has a plan and purpose for our lives but He also gives us free will. That means that we get to make our own decisions. His basic plan is that we seek Him and extend love to others. His specific plan for each of us entails our own unique personality and individual circumstances. What if we decide to do something outside of God’s plan? Then He has the ability to implement an alternate plan. As always, love is the focus.
What’s love got to do with: everyday circumstances?
Love applies to our everyday life. For example, if you expect to leave to go to work at a certain time and get delayed, it may have to do with who the Lord wants you to meet at a certain time. Your paths seemingly cross accidentally but He may want you to be a witness to that person, say a kind word, or learn something from them. Or the entire reason for the delay may be that He trying to teach you to stay calm and at peace during the delay by depending on Him. It’s all about love. Focus on what could be happening and how love could be playing a part.
Everyday things like cleaning house, washing the car, and going to work become boring and mundane. God is teaching us love even through things that seem repetitive and mundane. He can teach us spiritual truths by physical examples. As we learn and grow, we can see His plan unfold and we can see the magnificence in His work. We can see Him teaching and growing us.
Sometimes issues that come up in life are for us to talk to other people. Sometimes we need to address an issue like a bill that is wrong, call on a computer question, approach someone about a procedure or policy that company has incorrect, etc. We need to learn to talk to each other, work things out and to keep things in a kind, generous atmosphere. So many people want to dodge confrontation. Confrontation can be a loving act for a person. Confrontation does not mean hate, animosity, or anger. Confrontation is simply addressing an issue. The approach should be to talk about the situation at hand in a calm reasonable manner. The opportunity to love comes in how we decide to treat one another and seeking the truth. When truth is revealed and accepted by each party then love has prevailed. God wants us to meet or interact with others to witness, to be a light, to show morality, to learn from them a skill that will be useful to ourselves or others, or to shape our view. He wants us to be a comfort for others 2 Corinthians 1:3-7.
Illness can be a catalyst for love. It can be for others to help and comfort, to be aware of the physical vs. spiritual reality of this world, and to mold and shape our learning. People unfortunately, often use illness as a venue for destruction rather than love. It is easy to abuse or neglect the sick giving evil great opportunity to prevail. Love thinks no evil (1 Corinthians 13:5). Even more challenging are the sick that do not look ill. We must live by faith, not by sight. If someone tells you that they are sick but you don’t believe them, then you are calling them a liar (and the Holy Spirit if they are saved). The sick are weak and need help. The hardness of our heart causes us to judge with thoughts of evil and hate (see: Definitions). Illness is an opportunity to serve and show love to one another.
A clash in personality is an opportunity for love. Conflict with others due to personality or difference of opinion usually results in an end to the relationship. Sometimes we do need to get away from certain people, set boundaries for ourselves and them if the relationship is toxic but most of the time our hearts are just hard. Instead of intolerance and a hard heart, we need to focus on what we can do for others, their highest good, especially when things are going poorly with our interaction with them. Don’t get fixated on the trial or task at hand. Look at the love needed to be given.
Cover one another (ignore faults that are small, fix their mistakes), think no evil (don’t think badly about them). Think on the things (the things that pertain to their life and situation) of others also. Do their highest good. If you should look the other way on an issue, or if you should give correction, do what is needed. Don’t neglect giving to others what they need. Not telling someone something that they need to know or not giving them something they need is a form of hate (not love).
Why do things often go wrong when working or interacting with family or friends? The hardness of our heart, our sin nature, and the spiritual war in which Satan is allowed to attack are culprits. Satan is allowed to try and pit people against each other so we will adhere to love by forgiving, covering each other’s faults, and reproving each other’s sin. In this war, we constantly have to choose love. We are cranky, selfish, and possess the works of the flesh (Galatians 5: 16-23). That's why sin is still in our physical bodies to wage a war with the flesh against the Spirit, so we will choose love (the Spirit) and thus glorify God. It is quite likely that things will go wrong when working or interacting with family or friends but we still need to pursue those work/interaction relationships. It honors God to have the desire to unify with others and seek to overcome obstacles with love despite the challenges of this war.
Prayer works by love. God answers prayers according to His word and to His glory. Whether He gives you your request or not it is for your highest good. When Christians come together to pray, He is more likely to give them their petition. The coming together and being unified in love gives a great glory to the Lord. Why does prayer work? Because God wants us to love each other.
What does love have to do with: God’s specific plan?
God has a specific plan for each of us. That plan may be that we were born to a wealthy family. Wealth is actually something that needs to be overcome and learn how to manage through love. We may have been born to an alcoholic family, poor or abusive family. We may have been born without arms or without sight. God may have given us a specific gift, a great understanding or IQ, so that we will discover (by His grace) knowledge that can be helpful for society. The knowledge or wisdom that he gives you is not for you only, but for you to extend it to others also. If He gives you a lot of money, He will require that you be a good steward with that money. The money is not to help yourself only but to help others also. It’s always to extend love. If you fall ill to cancer it is for a good reason. It is always to be able to learn, grow, and extend your knowledge and compassion to help others.
What’s love got to do with: the realm of good vs. evil?
God is the maker and creator of this world (by Jesus Christ). He also created evil (Isaiah 45:5-12), He is the potter; He created all. Our conscience that God instilled in us gives us a distinction of right and wrong, good and evil. The nature of evil clearly shows the need for good. Evil has to nash at the righteous. Evil attacks love because it is in the wrong, it vents and projects.
Things happen to us that are part of the good vs. evil war. Satan and his demons cause havoc with governments, leaders, and anyone that they can. They incite people against each other, fuel the craves of the flesh, deceive the masses, etc. Due to our conscience, evil in this world compels us to search for love. Where is the love? Evil is not love but it magnifies it by contrast. There is no love in the world itself because the world is physical. Only by attachment to the spiritual is love attainable. God is spirit, He is love.
Evil shows God’s power. Only by love can evil be conquered. Why does He want to show His power? It shows us that He is the way, He can do all things, and that love is un-matchable, and unsurpassed.
What does love have to do with: Adversity?
Adversity is the hardest to understand of how love is connected to it. So let’s look at an arbitrary example. An elderly woman named Alice is sitting alone at a bus stop waiting for the bus and a man approaches her. He then robs, beats, and leaves her for dead. How is there love in that? First, the man clearly is exhibiting evil behavior. His actions are detestable, immoral and shocking to most of us. This horrible act shows that the war of good vs. evil does exist. His evil shows a complete opposition to love, to God. By the opposition, it shows the magnification of how great love is and the intensity of the need for love. Without God, destruction and death is inevitable but with Him there is life and love. It shows the world that there needs to be something better than this world has to offer and that we need God.
What about the poor elderly woman, Alice, that was beaten and left for dead (although she lived)? How is “love” in this for her? This is where it gets really hard to understand. Why do the innocent suffer at the hands of evil people? Because of love.
When hardship comes, the primary reason may be that God is teaching. If He is not teaching us, He may be teaching others through us. Count it all joy (James 1:2-4) because He is working. He molds and shapes us; makes us holy. If God’s primary purpose here is to teach, what would He be trying to teach Alice through such a horrible ordeal? The things that can be learned are extensive but perhaps she needs to learn to forgive. So many people would be angry and even hate this man if he robbed and beat them. If she is not saved or even if she is and walking in the flesh, hardness and un-forgiveness is almost inevitable. Why should she forgive this man? The consequences of harboring negative thoughts and feelings are far reaching. First, un-forgiveness is toxic to Alice’s own body and spirit. Second, her disposition, words, and actions affect others. Negativity propagates itself in the world. Most importantly, to forgive (giving mercy) is an act of love. God has forgiven us who have received His son, therefore, we must forgive others as we were forgiven. To hold un-forgiveness makes us a judge and Jesus is the only righteous judge - it is His place.
What could God be teaching others by Alice’s horrible ordeal? To seek Him because of the unknown (fear of the world), “this could happen to me.”; to pray for her, she is near death; to teach by her action or reaction to this event. Whether her actions are negative or positive, God could still be teaching others. If her actions are godly, then she would be an example of strength and reliance upon the Lord. If her actions are ungodly and vindictive, then they could teach others not to be like that and how sad her thinking really is. If Alice reacts with fear (manifested as hate, un-forgiveness, vengeance) it will affect others also. She validates the fleshly feeling and disposition of fear that most people hold and thus gives them excuse to justify it. But if she was walking in the Spirit, her actions would be that of love. She would be teaching people that love is a strength and that the strength is not that of flesh but of Spirit.
God brings or allows adversity to teach us, to teach others, to correct a behavior in us, if we're holding iniquity in the heart (un-confessed sin), to bring us to repentance unto salvation, to make us mature, and to bring judgment or chastisement. All of this is because He loves us and it is for our highest good. Sometimes the reason adversity happens is because of the spiritual war. Part of the war is evil forces happening to us. God allows (He does not bring evil upon us but can allow it) this because the plan of the world is not about us; it is about Him. God is magnified by evil and how we act or react. Remember, love must be magnified or glorified. Job was a just man and the spiritual war was allowed to seriously affect his life. He glorified God by not going against Him. Job 13:15 “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in Him...”
Even though adversity is extremely hard to endure at times, the best way to navigate through the ordeal is to focus on love by seeking God and remembering that the purpose of the adversity is always love related.
What’s love got to do with: Teaching us?
The unsaved get taught some of the same things as the saved. God is growing and teaching them. The laws of nature, reap what you sow (known to some as karma), teaches, draws and points to God. The fact that God has the world structured this way shows His love and that the world points to Him (love). He teaches us through life that His word is right and true. The bible reveals the deep truths of life and it points to love.
God teaches us things to fulfill His plan for us. He teaches us to lean on Him, to be content, and to want only Him. He builds our trust in Him and teaches us to keep our eyes on Him. He is teaching the saved to love and the unsaved the motions (acts) of love. The benefits that we get from learning (personal growth - becoming mature, peaceful, content, etc.) are love also.
God puts us through things so we can understand, empathize, help others as they go through trying times, and so we can show love. When things happen in life, God shows you who you are and your growth/maturity level. He draws people unto Him by circumstances, saved and unsaved. When a person is saved and not walking with Him, He will draw them back through circumstances as well as through their spirit. He can’t let them continue being away. Trials can be punishment or chastisement. Don’t mistake God’s patience for idleness (not going to do anything about the sin). He must eventually chastise to correct the behavior because it is the highest good. He would be wrong if he did not and God is never wrong.
God prunes us. Pruning is love. It makes us grow like pruning does to trees. Trials work out of us bad things like pride, impatience, selfishness, envy, etc. We ask God to get us out of the problem but instead we should ask Him what we need to learn. Rather than pulling us out of the circumstances, God takes us through them.
Our adversity may be to prepare us to help others. Sometimes things happen to us and it is not primarily about us, it is for someone else's benefit. After our experience, God may lead us to use what we have learned to help others; to use our learning for the cause of love.
What's love got to do with: Teaching others?
God always allows us to learn or be strengthened when adversity happens but teaching us may not be the primary reason. Things that happen to us might be for someone else to learn from our ordeal. Our action or reaction is crucial. Hardship is an opportunity to show great faith in the Lord (remember Job?); to be an example of that faith. A time of difficulty presents to others the chance to exercise empathy. People need to realize what's going on with others and respect their individuality. Not everyone has the same threshold for pain, growth of patience, or outlook on things. Consider what they have might have gone through in their childhood and why they might think the way they do. Don't be quick to judge. God may be teaching us not to measure each other by our own standard. Measuring by our standard instead of God's is focusing on ourselves. That's why we have such a poor perspective in life because we are thinking about ourselves and our little box (fairy tales). By focusing in on ourselves, we don't have the right perspective. Look at others through eyes of love and see things the way God has set forth the world, and by walking in the Spirit. Looking at other people through His eyes and giving them the benefit of the doubt is an act of love. Through our circumstances God can transform someone's heart. We can be the catalyst for love to abound. Don't despise your hard times, they do so much for you and others.
What’s love got to do with: the church?
The church (assembly of the saved) is supposed to be the embodiment of love. We have the Spirit of God living in us. We are the body of Christ. God’s plan for this world is to allow each individual to choose to love. He lets us affect one another (he designed the world that our action/inaction always has consequences for others) because we are to love one another.
Inside the body of the church are unique individuals with different personalities. Each person is at a different level of learning and growth in their walk with the Lord. God also gives us different talents and spiritual gifts. As our gifts differ in the church, so do the things that God teaches us so we can be used with our experiences and understanding to help one another and edify the church. We are supposed to be of one mind and one body but life is a challenge and a balance. All the diversity of individuals is hard to effectively blend together. It takes Godly unity to succeed. Walking in the Spirit (in love) is the only way to accomplish true unity. Remember, that love is a moment by moment choice.
Love in the church? There are hypocrites in the church! Well, of course there are some. We still have our sinful nature. The church is a help to learn and grow. It is like a hospital for the sick; a place to get well; a place to learn how to love. There are many obstacles that pop up in the church for the members to learn to exercise their love walk. Usually a lack of communication and a lack of understanding are the largest culprits. Most members truly seek to follow what God wants but since it is a spiritual war, Satan has his puppets (the unsaved and some that are saved but prone to his devices) in the mix. Those that disrupt the peace in church often are Satan's puppets or those that walk in the flesh. Adhering to the fleshly nature brings about jealously, envy, and pettiness. Disruption, however, can be in reverse. The majority in the church can be carnal Christians (walking in the flesh) and the ones that cling to truth can be disruptive by trying to mature the church body. Carnal Christians most often say they want truth but in actuality desire the fleshly nature more and deny actual truth. Simply being unified doesn't always mean it is right. Being the personification of God through unification can only be of the Spirit (of love).
One area that is very divisive and misunderstood is money. God uses money for His church to function and to expand. A common statement is, “The church only wants my money”. In a Godly church, this is not true. God himself set forth the giving to the church for his purposes. Unfortunately, many churches abuse this doctrine and thus give a bad reputation to all churches. If a church is walking in love, they will teach that giving is from the heart and not a mandate. It is because of love. God doesn’t need our money but He structured things that we use the world’s system. It is for us to learn how to love. We need to let go of physical dependences (money and possessions) and be willing to give appropriately. There is an appropriateness to giving (priorities); a balance. Always focus on love and let it navigate the giving opportunity.
Unfortunately also, the imbalance of the use of money in the church is seen quite often. Remember, people are learning and growing in how to love so therefore the use of their money is likely not what it should be. A top priority in the use of money is the needs of the saints. Most churches lose focus of what they actually are about; personifying love (God). Trying to love the members within the body of the church becomes imbalanced and often times many are not helped. Granted, some members through their learning (the hard way) have gotten themselves into difficult situations. Even though we bring things upon ourselves, the church should show compassion and love them, helping them through it (there are however, times that it is not the person’s highest good to be helped out of their situation). Also, God set some to be disabled, poor, weak, etc. among the body of believers so others will have to help. We have the ability to give love by helping each other. It is always about giving love. The church collectively, as well as individually, needs to focus on love. James 2:15,16 says “If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” How are they being helped by warm wishes? They are not. It is the same thing saying, “I’ll pray for you” and having the ability to help but do nothing. Of course, God wants us to pray and He can help the person in need without our help but almost always He has given the ability to someone among the brethern to help them or to the church collectively. Why? It is about love. God allows hardship and adversity into our lives for others to be a vessel of His love and minister to them. God gives us and others opportunity to love, to pass or fail at the situation before us. Therefore, if a church member needs help and asks, and little or no help is given, the choice not to love was done. We must remember that God places people in the body as it pleases Him. Some have been given more in health and/or money. To whom more is given, more is expected by God. Those who have been given more should have none left over and those that have little should not lack. 2 Corinthians 8:14,15 says, “...your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality: as it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.”
Another area that the church has a misplaced understanding is in giving to evangelism (and missions). Evangelism is NOT the reason we are here on this planet (although it is a large part of God’s plan). Because of this misconception, love is missed and misplaced. A lot of churches believe that the sole reason that God leaves Christians here after they are saved is to win the lost and that if wasn’t for that, He would simply just take them home. Not so. Even if no one else needed to be saved, God still might leave us here on earth. Why? To choose whether or not to love one another. There is still the good vs. evil and physical vs. spiritual war that challenges us to seek love which glorifies God. Remember, the meaning of life is God, His love, and glorifying Him. The spiritual war is seen within the structure or dynamic of the church body (the saved). The church often will stumble at their giving by giving wrongly. They operate off of feelings (feelings are not love) instead of instruction from the word of God. Feelings are fleshly, and carnal based. The less mature Christian operates his behavior from his feelings instead of direction from the Holy Spirit. They often will help people in the community instead of their own members first. They feel good being able to say that they are reaching out to the community’s needs but sadly they sacrifice their own brother’s needs to do this. Repetitive aide to some within produces contempt and negative feelings where as helping those outside the church produces good feelings. Regardless of feelings, the bible clearly teaches that the saved of God are a family (brothers and sisters in Christ). It is wrong to give to the neighbor while your own family suffers. 1 Timothy 5:8 explains that if any provides not for his own he is worse than an infidel. Is it wrong to give to others? Of course not as long as your own is cared for. Love is to be extended to all; in word and deed. Many churches believe that the entire existence of the church is focused around the “great commission” (Matthew 28:19,20). Again, they take money from the needs of the brethren to give to missionaries who seek to deliver the gospel to the lost. In Matthew 15:26, Jesus confirms that it is not right to take away from your own and give to others. Even though this scripture is speaking about a spiritual subject that is quite deep, the physical example still holds true. The church often mistakes feelings for the plight of the lost as love. It is heart wrenching that so many souls are lost and their eternal destiny is hell. Yes, the church is to reach the lost and dying world but there is an order to things. The old saying stands true, “a chain is only as strong as its weakest link”. All parts of the body are affected by one part. The body needs to be as strong as possible in all aspects: physically, emotionally, and most of all spiritually. If the church neglects its own, that is not love. The order of love is this: love from God, to love yourself (in the venue of the church, Christians are one body and to love each other as their self) and then to others.
So what’s love got to do with it? Growing and learning with your Christian brothers and sisters, and maintaining a desire to seek love honors God. If we walk in love, we will do what is right and will draw the lost with our love for one another. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” John 13:35. God structured the church that we need to use everyone’s gifts, different personalities, and diverse experiences so that we can come together to form one body in love. Only by the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit can we come together as one. Love is the only way to truly function effectively. A body of love can truly reflect God and change lives.
What’s love got to do with...?
Everything
God gives us things to go through and we should look at it as all good. He is teaching us, growing us, or showing other people through our problems what they need to learn. We should count it all joy (James 1: 2-4) because we are being used by Him for his glory. Our reason to live: to do God’s highest good (love Him, love your neighbor as yourself), to do His will and fulfill His plan. By overcoming the physical and dying to self, shows our love to God.
Debunk your fairy tale! It’s not about you. Count it all joy; trials mean God is working with you. The godliest people often are those that have suffered. If God doesn’t change your circumstances then thank Him because it is your highest good. Romans 8:28 “...all things work together for good...”
Love transforms the way we think and look at life, not through rose colored glasses but with righteousness, kindness, compassion, and truth. Keep in mind, follow the Holy Spirit trail. Our day is directed by Him for the cause of love.