Thoughts on Love this Valentine's Day
February 14, 2013 12:45am
First off, happy Valentine's Day everyone! Secondly comes the main topic, on a day like today when love is being emphasized everywhere, what does love really mean and what all does it entail? i may say i love my mom (which i do) and i might also make the statement that i love that pizza i just polished off. For us to use the word love in such ways really begs the question what does love really mean?
In the New Testament there are a few different Greek words that are translated as love. These are eros, philos, mania, storgy, and agape. Mania is the word more for obsession than anything else, eros is the emotional love, stodgy is the love one has for a family member (motherly love), philos is of course brotherly love, and agape is unconditional love. Sadly we only have one word in English to describe our feelings towards people and things. So sometimes we use adjectives to help. We may say "I love you like a brother" for instance. Overall the English language doesn't really help us out any when it comes to showing love.
In order to understand the rest of this post you have to understand my current context. It's early Valentine's morning and i'm locked in a room with three of other guys that live in my dorm. We are patiently waiting for our sister floor to finish decorating our hall. After this we will do the same to their hallway. So as i'm sitting here on the couch i start to look at Facebook. Many of my friends have started posting about either their having a happy Valentine's with their significant other or how they are going to enjoy it alone, in some cases with a carton of ice cream and sappy love movies. Seeing all these emotions being brought to light it makes me realize that we have a hunger for love.
Our hunger for love, at least around Valentine's Day, is usually aimed towards "eros", that warm and fuzzy kind of love. i see this happening because it's how God made us. When Adam was placed in the Garden, God created a woman for him because it was not good for man to be alone. God understands that we are social and loving creatures, after all He is the one who made us like this. However this search for "eros" shows a much deeper longing for agape love with our Creator. If you have seen "Les Mis" then i hope you caught the very last line of the movie. It states, "To love another person is to see the Face of God." This one line shows us that we are constantly searching for God's love and that one place where we can find it is in loving others. After all Jesus told us to love another as ourself. Jesus had a lot more in store for us than just being nice.
One story of Christ stands out to me as being very significant in our understanding of love. This story if the story of the reconciliation of Peter at the shores of the Sea of Galilee. After the resurrection of Christ, Jesus meets the disciples who were out fishing. Note that the disciples were out fishing rather than spreading Christ's message. Peter jumped out of the boat and swam to Jesus and was met by Jesus cooking breakfast over a charcoal fire. The stage had been set for something to happen. If you look back through the Gospels only one other time has a charcoal fire been mentioned. It was mentioned when Peter had denied Christ three times. Three times on that day sitting around breakfast Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him. Three times Peter answered that he did love Jesus. In English that's where the story ends, but in the original text (Greek) there's a deeper meaning than what is taken away in English. Jesus asked the first two times if Peter agape loved him and both times Peter responded that he philo loved Jesus. The last time Jesus asked if Peter philo loved Him and Peter responded that he did of course philo love Jesus. Jesus wanted Peter to be able to agape love Him, but Peter just was not able to at the time, it could have been because remorse from his deeds or possibly something else. Despite Peter's response however Jesus still commands him to feed His sheep.
We see that Christ's love for us goes beyond our capabilities to love. The fact that Jesus could forgive and still trust Peter to do God's work is a very bold statement of Christ's love for His people. So where does that leave us? It leaves us in a place where we can know that we are loved by our Creator. There is still a gap between us, but we can be assured that transgressions have been paid for and that a better day is coming. So what are the implications of our love this Valentine's? If you're date is yourself then treat yourself well and make your body as a living sacrifice for the Lord. Do His work because He truly agape loves you. If you're date is someone else then remember that you husbands are supposed to love your wife as Christ loved the church and that you wives are supposed to respect your husband.
So despite all of our running around trying to buy the perfect Valentine's gift or decorate the halls of our beloved sister floor just right lets remember what love should really mean to us is that it is our way of expressing God's love for humanity and for searching out God's love at the same time. If you have time look up John's account of Peter's denial of Christ and his reconciliation, it's definitely worth the read. And also look up Matthew chapter 25 and read some in there. i believe there will be some good information on how we are to love others and seek God through it.
Source for definitions of greek words for love: http://chrismlegg.com/2009/10/01/5-greek-words-for-love-agape/
First off, happy Valentine's Day everyone! Secondly comes the main topic, on a day like today when love is being emphasized everywhere, what does love really mean and what all does it entail? i may say i love my mom (which i do) and i might also make the statement that i love that pizza i just polished off. For us to use the word love in such ways really begs the question what does love really mean?
In the New Testament there are a few different Greek words that are translated as love. These are eros, philos, mania, storgy, and agape. Mania is the word more for obsession than anything else, eros is the emotional love, stodgy is the love one has for a family member (motherly love), philos is of course brotherly love, and agape is unconditional love. Sadly we only have one word in English to describe our feelings towards people and things. So sometimes we use adjectives to help. We may say "I love you like a brother" for instance. Overall the English language doesn't really help us out any when it comes to showing love.
In order to understand the rest of this post you have to understand my current context. It's early Valentine's morning and i'm locked in a room with three of other guys that live in my dorm. We are patiently waiting for our sister floor to finish decorating our hall. After this we will do the same to their hallway. So as i'm sitting here on the couch i start to look at Facebook. Many of my friends have started posting about either their having a happy Valentine's with their significant other or how they are going to enjoy it alone, in some cases with a carton of ice cream and sappy love movies. Seeing all these emotions being brought to light it makes me realize that we have a hunger for love.
Our hunger for love, at least around Valentine's Day, is usually aimed towards "eros", that warm and fuzzy kind of love. i see this happening because it's how God made us. When Adam was placed in the Garden, God created a woman for him because it was not good for man to be alone. God understands that we are social and loving creatures, after all He is the one who made us like this. However this search for "eros" shows a much deeper longing for agape love with our Creator. If you have seen "Les Mis" then i hope you caught the very last line of the movie. It states, "To love another person is to see the Face of God." This one line shows us that we are constantly searching for God's love and that one place where we can find it is in loving others. After all Jesus told us to love another as ourself. Jesus had a lot more in store for us than just being nice.
One story of Christ stands out to me as being very significant in our understanding of love. This story if the story of the reconciliation of Peter at the shores of the Sea of Galilee. After the resurrection of Christ, Jesus meets the disciples who were out fishing. Note that the disciples were out fishing rather than spreading Christ's message. Peter jumped out of the boat and swam to Jesus and was met by Jesus cooking breakfast over a charcoal fire. The stage had been set for something to happen. If you look back through the Gospels only one other time has a charcoal fire been mentioned. It was mentioned when Peter had denied Christ three times. Three times on that day sitting around breakfast Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him. Three times Peter answered that he did love Jesus. In English that's where the story ends, but in the original text (Greek) there's a deeper meaning than what is taken away in English. Jesus asked the first two times if Peter agape loved him and both times Peter responded that he philo loved Jesus. The last time Jesus asked if Peter philo loved Him and Peter responded that he did of course philo love Jesus. Jesus wanted Peter to be able to agape love Him, but Peter just was not able to at the time, it could have been because remorse from his deeds or possibly something else. Despite Peter's response however Jesus still commands him to feed His sheep.
We see that Christ's love for us goes beyond our capabilities to love. The fact that Jesus could forgive and still trust Peter to do God's work is a very bold statement of Christ's love for His people. So where does that leave us? It leaves us in a place where we can know that we are loved by our Creator. There is still a gap between us, but we can be assured that transgressions have been paid for and that a better day is coming. So what are the implications of our love this Valentine's? If you're date is yourself then treat yourself well and make your body as a living sacrifice for the Lord. Do His work because He truly agape loves you. If you're date is someone else then remember that you husbands are supposed to love your wife as Christ loved the church and that you wives are supposed to respect your husband.
So despite all of our running around trying to buy the perfect Valentine's gift or decorate the halls of our beloved sister floor just right lets remember what love should really mean to us is that it is our way of expressing God's love for humanity and for searching out God's love at the same time. If you have time look up John's account of Peter's denial of Christ and his reconciliation, it's definitely worth the read. And also look up Matthew chapter 25 and read some in there. i believe there will be some good information on how we are to love others and seek God through it.
Source for definitions of greek words for love: http://chrismlegg.com/2009/10/01/5-greek-words-for-love-agape/
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