LOVE

Love Trap     

Dr. Mike 2022 , , ,

John 13:34

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

1 John 3:18

Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

How can love be a trap? Isn’t love the most important attribute we desire?

And since God is Love, is God a trap?

You probably have also thought of other questions as your curiosity reads. But yes, love in all its supreme condition can be an illusion unless one is careful to build on the foundation of reality. Since God is real, and God is love (1 Jn. 4:8), than love is real. But lying to self is also a reality.

The love trap is falling into the crater of illusion confusing the attribute solely as an inner emotional feeling rather than an outward active response.

It is the young teenagers who love one another and want to quit school so they may marry and have a happy life. It is the infatuation taking the emotional control of a person without grasping at reality. It is typically narrowing love to a single event or person and forgetting everything else.

In addition, culture has cheapened love. Advertisers demonstrate that “love” is obtained through a product. Our toys, cars, and kitchen appliances are the articles that express our intense “love” as consumers.

Hollywood portrays sex as the ultimate expression of “love”. Two strangers meet in the hotel lobby and then find themselves passionately “making love” one hour later.

Culture may create illusions of love, but Jesus reminds us throughout his life that real love is sacrificial service for the sake of others. Love is action rather than a feeling. Love is outward concern for the other rather than self-rewarding.

Love is demonstrated by the strong helping the weak. The wealthy uplifting the poor. The educated teaching the illiterate. The mother or father sacrificing a career for the sake of raising children. Throughout history, those who have sacrificed for the sake of others have experienced real love without seeking it.

A husband who sacrifices his desires to please his wife and the wife who sacrifices her desires to please her husband demonstrates God’s love in action.

When leaders seek to serve their followers through deeds built upon the truth of reality rather than propaganda or market spin, exhibit God’s love in action. 

Love is not rhetoric nor an academic expression of feelings. Love is outward action built upon eternal values of reality.

We are thankful Jesus established a new standard to measure love: HIMSELF. His example of sacrificial service for others is the real standard of love.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Author of e-Books 

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Substructures of Love

Dr. Mike 2022 , , , ,

Matthew 19:4-6

He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Everything God created HE made from HIS inner character which includes the manifestation of love. HE created the universe because Love wanted a family to encircle the Triune God. He selected the planet earth and inhabited the third rock from the sun with various forms of life. He created a precise and interrelated world which would sustain human life.

When HE came to create man and woman, the planet was ready for them. So, HE created the first human in HIS image. Therefore, mankind reflects his Creator. God’s attributes are revealed through the thoughts, imagination, and actions of each person. Though each person only has a limited portion of HIS attributes, collectively they reveal who God IS.

Along the way though, us humans also discovered the power of choice. When we choose wisely after the character of our Creator, life works out for the better. However, when we choose contrary to the Master Designer, the outcome is opposite HIS character. The Bible defines the outcome as sin.

God reveals HIS important values by HIS actions as HE relates with others. When the first humans disobeyed HIS one and only command, their continence changed as they tasted a side of God without the character to manage the experience. Instead of trusting God to determine what is good and evil, they will now discover for themselves through trial and error. The result is a broken world constantly shifting between good and evil by the choice humans make.

From the beginning of time, two of the substructures put in place which demonstrates God’s love is found in marriage and family. God’s ordain form of marriage is between a man and woman. As Jesus stated, when married the two become one flesh. The apostle Paul latter wrote this same picture also highlights the mysterious relationship between Jesus and the Church.

When a man and woman enter marriage, they begin a monogamous relationship where they learn the importance and value of persevering commitment and sacrificial love. The Biblical examples are displayed between God and Israel. No matter how often the people of Israel disobeyed and rebelled, God continued HIS covenant with them. Israel may have often failed in the relationship, but God always performed HIS part of the relationship.

The family is also God’s way for building up a social network which is good for both the individual and community. Social studies have likewise demonstrated the value of having a two-parent family to raise children and being the overall structure best produces successful, healthy, and contributing individuals into society.

God didn’t expect everyone to marry and have children. There are those who are happy and productive being single and maintain healthy relationships with others. They learn the importance of commitment and love through their everyday relationships. However, marriage and family allow a greater blessing for children and the more demanding process of maturity growth between couples.

As this world tries to figure out a better way of living than what God has already ordained and proven over time, those of us who practice Judeo-Christian values already have seen, practiced, and witness the joy and fulfillment of living God’s “old-fashion” ways. Earth’s first parents stepped outside of God’s instructions and paid a heavy price. Some of us keep thinking we can outsmart God. I myself, admit having tried many times to outwit God, but I have always repented and turned back to HIM.

Over time, I have also learned HIS ways are better than any man or woman has developed since the beginning of time. So therefore, I am blessed beyond measure; not because of my brain trust, but because of my willingness to follow the God-Man who made all this possible for me. I hope you see the same. For then it would be a better world for everyone to live in.  

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Author of e-Books 

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ed

Knowledge Trap

Dr. Mike 2022 , ,

1 Corinthians 13:2,8

And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing…love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away…

What values are important to God?

The Bible outlines many good and outstanding qualities to possess. Some are better than others depending on the situation and circumstances of life you are presently navigating through. Here the apostle Paul outlines a few that are dear to him and close to heart for others and puts them in their right place.

His list includes the gift of prophecy, understanding mysteries, faith, languages, and knowledge. His conclusion was that they shall all pass away except for one – Love.

The knowledge trap is thinking your I.Q. and the accumulation of all you know of God, the Bible, and any other subject is the utopia of life. Yes, knowledge may be your number one strength, but compared to God’s love, it leaves you empty.

He wrote in 1 Corinthians 8:1 that “knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” In Ephesians 3:19, “to know the love of Christ surpasses knowledge…”, and today’s Scripture he reminds us that “without love, I am nothing.” Yes, knowledge is one of the great gifts to possess, but it’s not the most important.

Knowledge is the foundation of any field of study. When you acquire knowledge on a subject, and then begin to understand all the interrelationships and applications, you slowly acquire the wisdom to make the knowledge beneficial in its use among yourself and others. Without knowledge, not much would ever get done.

Yet in comparison with God’s love, it is secondary. When the love of God enters your soul, and you can express that love to others, every other gift you possess, including knowledge, becomes more effective and alive as it touches the lives of others.

By itself, apart from love, knowledge stands alone, morbid, and empty, waiting for life to enter. But when color is added, along with enthusiasm, beauty, and meaningfulness unto the subject, not to impress others but for their true benefit, then knowledge becomes alive and valuable.  

Therefore, don’t throw away your thirst for knowledge. But instead, make love your number one treasure to pursue and acquire and share with others. Let knowledge be your gift for others standing on the foundation of love. Or as others have said before, let them know how much you care for them rather than how much you know. Let love lead your knowledge base for the sake of others and for the glory of God.

Rooting For You in Christ!

Dr. Mike

Encourager & Author of e-Books

 *  Dancing With God: Life-Giving Theology Explained
 *  Great Business Emulates a Good God
 *  Be Radical…Follow Christ!
 *  Simply The Messenger
 *  Unequally Married

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