Thursday, February 23, 2017

All You Need



As I continued to ponder the truths I explored in my previous post, I landed on a passage about “all things” that I had not included in that post.  It is in the familiar 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians, verse 7.

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Powerful qualifications.  Doesn’t leave any room for confusion.  Wide-eyed surprise, yes.  But not confusion.

So, this got me thinking about LOVE.  Of course.  It is clearly a key ingredient in our walk with HaShem.  Yeshua said to love YHVH is our greatest command, and also to love one another.  What does that mean?  What is love?



I have heard for most of my life the teachings about the Greek words for love – eros, phileo, agape.  And I have known inherently and by investigation that our English word ‘love’ is plainly anemic in its use.  We all recognize that ‘love’ is the most profound concept in human interaction.  Yet, in English, its meanings are so diverse and shallow that it almost ceases to mean anything at all. 

Maybe I am being a little too cynical about this.  Call it literary license, hyperbole, emphasis for effect; but I declare that we cannot deny the diluted diminution of ‘love’ in English; or in western culture in general, I’d say.  It has become mostly tawdry, sentimental, cliché, overwrought; too easily tossed about in our conversations, lifestyles, and popular entertainment.

These thoughts led me to do a bit of research, which resulted in the discovery of a couple of articles that I found greatly enlightening.  In fact, they nearly took my breath away.  Therefore, I am going to share them with you here instead of trying to summarize or cherry-pick quotes from them.

At the risk of being a ‘spoiler,’ I will tease you with a couple of ideas from these articles.  One is a brief Hebrew word study, and it delivers the notion of love’s relationship to giving.  The other offers the statement that love is an obligation.  I encourage you to read both articles all the way through!  You will not be disappointed.


  
Parting thoughts:

1.  Considering love’s relationship to giving, how does this affect our perspective on YHVH’s gifts to us?  James 1:17 

2.  Read Romans 8:38-39.  What does this tell you about the dimensions and availability of YHVH’s love for you?



Shalom!
שלום

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