Love?!... (Part 3)

“Love, in the Christian sense, does not mean an emotion. It is a state not of the feelings but of the will; that state of the will which we have naturally about ourselves, and must learn to have about other people.”
-C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity

I return to you once again continuing this idea of Love. In all the books and poems, in all the plays and songs, the author of all such expressions speaks more on love then any other thought; why is that? It seems to me that through life, Christians and non-Christians search to satisfy their thirst for fulfillment and in the end the non-Christians find themselves in a desert wandering aimlessly for the next oasis to sooth their throats until once again the vision vanishes, another hallucination, and the lost end in disappointment concerning life. The human race depends upon love, always seeking it and always exploring it but aside from God, mankind will never experience a true love for all will fail.

The four at sonic said this about God’s Love. The nature of God’s love, agape, requires a relinquish of personal concern with the denial of self, and then give willingly without expecting a return. King James, I think, had the better translation for this Greek word; charity. Agape has more then choice imbedded in its use, a constant state of a certain will could only use this form of love. When you think about acting on this love, and must consciously choose this course of action then you miss the greatest form of it. Granted, choosing it will always supersede then to not, yet the beauty of it comes with the will of the person. Nothing else comes to their mind, no other plausible choice arrives, so quick it seems thinking doesn’t even happen but an instant action. Thus so God acts in accordance of his will, he poured himself out and gave his own life to bring us the eternal. As I stated earlier, Agape means charity and that form of love requires the giver not to require a response of gratitude, and here we fail. How does he act so graciously, how can he? I know of times when I acted selflessly without thinking and showed a degree of agape love, however not long after the realization set in I thought to myself how well I acted; what a shame.

If you can’t tell from the blog page, I adore C.S. Lewis; he had a way with words and spoke such great truths in few phrases. I relate to his words above, I know the person I love most (of any form) is myself, that naturally came to me, I respect myself. I would do anything to rescue my body from danger or harmful intent. Christian love demonstrates those same qualities but in the direction of others. A Christian must take what love he has learned for himself and deliver it to others, a very different view and action from society yet that defines Christian love.

I would now like to quote from Corinthians one chapter thirteen. “Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (NASB). Many times you can here this cited in a wedding progression yet as Mark Moore says, that is the worst of places to have it. Many seem to forget what surrounds this passage; turmoil, competition, hatred, an infatuation of spiritual gifts, argument, and separation. A wedding should have a since of love in the air, rejoicing, and happiness, none of the things conspiring in Corinth. This passage was not for defining the word Love (Agape) but a plea to the church to stop all this argument and separation, a petition to put aside the requirements of faith and show that Love rises above all gifts of the spirit. This was what I wanted to share with you, that love is greater then all rewards, greater then faith and hope. All acts of kindness and charity are great but with out agape, mean nothing. Agape is the greatest of all loves for us to acquire but because of our selfishness and disdain this becomes increasingly difficult. Put aside that filth and love intently.

The night progressed and the hands on the clock made their trip around its face. The four men started to raise tension in their voices, for they could not agree on this topic. After the discussion on the separate Greek words Peoden brought up another idea, can Man really love Nature?

More on this next time…

Love?!... (Part 2)

The luxury of this being only a blog, I don’t have to persuade you of anything, instead lay my philosophies on the table for consideration and entertaining. (For the telling of the discussion at Sonic I made up names using Greek and Latin, which represent the four.)

Love, as I stated before is indescribable, thus impossible for all understanding to be put into words. However, I say to consider and ponder on such topics in the pursuit and search of greater wisdom.

A person cannot craft love. Love does not birth with a new baby with love created inside that person as if it has physical members or traits, if all died off love would still remain even though no one resides to witness it, nor does it form when a couple begins to share a relationship. Love does not start and does not end. One does not kill it, destroy it, break it, or cease it. Love does not exist physically or bare just one brand but has several appearances. Just as the laws of Good and Evil exist without the presence of man so does the essence of love. I would say, from out of what I read in the Bible, people receive the capacity to love only from God. If God did not exist neither would love. It comes to us as an extension of His good will. Our partnership with his image gives the ability to share in his love and manage it.

These are the four at sonic; Peoden which means ‘king,’ Meglaphilos which means ‘great friend,’ Apatoma which means ‘short one,’ and Monachardi which means the one heart. The four discussed, and as I stated in the prior post, came first to choice. Apotoma spoke quickly; “it’s a choice.” All had accordance and claimed that emotion seemed a mute point in time and place. One must decide to exhibit faith through peace or turmoil. Love must embody a commitment, an oath, a contract, and a conscious reaction to one another by never ceasing indenture. This even shows its merit in friendship. Two people with similar interests decide to devote time in the other. And the four agreed unanimously, a good sign and start.

In English, the common communication tosses around the word love carelessly, “I love my car,” “I love this movie” or “I love this picture.” English relinquishes the word of all boundaries and flooding it with meaningless mention weakening the word to all meaning of interest. Monachardi spoke up and brought this to light. The Greeks did not have the word Love, instead a system of four words separating connotations, Agapae (godly love), Phila (friendship), Eros (passionate or sexual), and storgay (parent to child). They never put so much meaning into just one word instead English does. I went to a thesaurus to look up synonyms for our English Love and I found this: fondness, tenderness, warmth, intimacy, attachment, endearment, devotion, adoration, doting, idolization, worship, passion, ardor, desire, lust, yearning, infatuation, and bestowed, compassion, care, caring, regard, solicitude, concern, friendliness, friendship, kindness, charity, goodwill, sympathy, kindliness, altruism, unselfishness, philanthropy, benevolence, and feelings for. I gave you barely half. Love is too complex to throw into one idea, belief, or word and it shows carelessness, ignorance, and neglect. I hope you understand… The others took note of the unveiled reasoning and discussed. From then on the word love became adjoined with a prefix like friendly-love or godly-love.

Enough for now… I shall continue later.