Amor (Spanish), Upendo (Swahili), Obhuyanzi (Luhya), die Liebe (German), Amour (French), Liefde (Dutch), Amore (Italian), Hera (Luo)
Every tribe, language and culture on the planet seems to have a word for it. What a wonderful phenomenon. In some ways, it seems abstract and incapable of being fully defined but at the same time it's very tangible and present in our day to day lives.
My search for some sort of definition of love led me to look to God's word where John taught that "God is Love" (1 John 4:8).
I recently got an awesome Biblical epiphany into what the defining elements or core ingredients of love are. This blog is a brief expose of the same I suppose...
Lets look at it this way, if God is Love, then surely any attempt to define Love must be the equivalent of an attempt to define God, right? The moment the thought of "trying to define God" crossed my mind, I felt like that was certainly an exercise in futility. "Surely, no-one can define God!" I thought to myself. "We may be able to list His attributes but certainly not box Him within the confines of a lexical definition."
Lets look at it this way, if God is Love, then surely any attempt to define Love must be the equivalent of an attempt to define God, right? The moment the thought of "trying to define God" crossed my mind, I felt like that was certainly an exercise in futility. "Surely, no-one can define God!" I thought to myself. "We may be able to list His attributes but certainly not box Him within the confines of a lexical definition."
Indeed, these thoughts are legitimate. God is far too big for our human minds to fully understand. However, He has revealed Himself to us through His Word. The Word of God that dwelt among us (Jesus Christ) was God's physical and earthly expression to mankind of who He as God is and what His character and nature are. He just wanted us to know Him and that is why He sent Jesus. Jesus Christ was God's way of saying, "let Me show you who I am and what I am all about." Or to put it another way (since God is love), "let me show you what Love is and what it's all about."
This in my view is the real reason why God sent Jesus (that is, to demonstrate to the world who He is and what Love is). Yes, Jesus came to pay the penalty for our sin, to destroy its power and to reconcile us to God but think about it for a moment. God is all powerful. He could have destroyed sin and reconciled us to Himself by simply speaking the command from heaven, "Sin! Thou art no more and as for you sons of Adam, consider yourselves restored back to Me!". If He wanted to do that, He could have done it. He was under no compelling duty to come down and take on an earthly form. He could have simply spoken the Word and saved us from Heaven because he can do all things and nothing is too difficult or impossible for Him for it is written,
"...with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26
But He didn't do that because taking that method of redemption would not have expressed His nature and character to us. So in order to express His character and , in a way, to "define" who He is (and what Love is) He chose to leave the glorious joys of heaven, come to earth, live for 33 years and then deliver Himself to men who would mete out to him the kind of gruesome death reserved for the miscreants of His day. He did these things not only to redeem men but to reintroduce Himself to them and to reveal to them who He is/what Love is. He revealed by actions the very things that could define who He is and what love is. My conclusion therefore is this...the only way to discover a full definition God/Love (if at all a full definition can be grasped by the human mind) is to study the divinity, incarnation, life, ministry, death, resurrection and imminent return of Jesus.
"A study of Jesus" could itself be the title of a book existing in several volumes but for purposes of this blog, I'll limit myself to only one verse of Scripture...yes, you guessed it...John 3:16:
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life"
This verse, in my estimation summarises two key things that can help define Love...Giving and Sacrifice. I shall briefly assess these two defining elements of Love in Part 2 of this devotion.
(continued in Part 2 below)
(continued in Part 2 below)
2ND DEVOTIONAL STUDY (PART 2) - LOVE
The two defining elements or pillars of Love that I found in John 3:16 are Giving and Sacrifice. Let me explain my view of this.
1. Giving
One cannot claim to love and not give for giving is one of the most perfect expressions of love. In fact, it is so perfect that it is the method God chose to use when he wanted to express Love (or to express who He is) to us. "For God so loved...that he GAVE...".
If we have trouble giving, then it is only because we do not Love whoever we are called to give to whether it be a spouse, a friend, a relative, a colleague etc. Giving flows naturally from every heart that loves and the absence of giving is the absence of Love.
2. Sacrifice
In order to show us what Love is (and who He is) God couldn't just give anything or anyone. He had to make sure that his giving would really cost Him. He had to give His best. He gave His one and only begotten Son.
Giving anything that you only have one of (i.e your one and only...), so that after giving you are left with nothing which is similar to that which you gave away, implies sacrifice. Love always gives its best. It gives its "one and only". If our hearts refuse to give to our loved ones anything for which we have no substitute so as to meet their needs, then these "loved ones" are really not loved. Sacrifice is essential to Love.
Giving anything that you only have one of (i.e your one and only...), so that after giving you are left with nothing which is similar to that which you gave away, implies sacrifice. Love always gives its best. It gives its "one and only". If our hearts refuse to give to our loved ones anything for which we have no substitute so as to meet their needs, then these "loved ones" are really not loved. Sacrifice is essential to Love.
If we truly Love people (your wife or child or neighbour etc), there will be times when we will have to go without something just so that they can have it. The absence of sacrifice is the absence of Love.
I mentioned above that there are two elements of love summarised in John 3:16 but let me throw in a last one that may not be directly presented in John 3:16 but is nevertheless crucial...
3. Commitment
For Christ to have lived for 33 whole years knowing that His destiny and purpose was to die a gruesome death and for Him to still wake up each morning and go about life and ministry doing good to the very people who would put Him to death was a great demonstration of commitment! Wherever love is, there is also a commitment to the welfare of whoever is loved, even if such commitment ends up in the death of the one who loves.
Think of Jacob's love for Rachel. He toiled for 14 years in service to Rachel's father, Laban, just so Laban would allow him to marry her and "...they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her." (Genesis 29:20). Such commitment defines Love and the absence of Commitment is the absence of Love.
Think of Jacob's love for Rachel. He toiled for 14 years in service to Rachel's father, Laban, just so Laban would allow him to marry her and "...they seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her." (Genesis 29:20). Such commitment defines Love and the absence of Commitment is the absence of Love.
Put any love that you claim to have against the test of three elements that God used to teach us what Love is and who He is and see whether what you claim to have truly measures up and can be called Love .
Grace and Peace.
1ST DEVOTIONAL STUDY - (PART 2) WHOSE HOUSE ARE YOU BUILDING?
(continuation of Part 1 below)
The drought referred to at the end of part one of this discourse does not have to be a permanent drought. The text in the book of Haggai refers to it as being only a "season" of drought. This season ends when we choose to honour God by heeding His word, abandoning the selfish intents of our own hearts (which Jeremiah 17:9 describes as being deceitful above all things and desperately wicked) and shifting our motives and focus from our own agenda to God's purposes. Haggai 1:12 describes Zerubbabel and Joshua's response to the message of the Lord that had been delivered by Haggai:
"Then the governor, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak, and all the people with them listened, really listened, to the voice of their GOD. When GOD sent the prophet Haggai to them, they paid attention to him. In listening to Haggai, they honoured God."
As soon as the people had this mental shift and this change of heart...as soon as they "listened, really listened" God was swift to declare in Haggai 1:13, "I am with you!". His presence was invoked among them!
Indeed, as we see in Haggai 2:4-5, after the people had chosen to honour God by putting His interests before their own and rebuilding the Temple, God stirred them up and reassured them of His presence:
" Yes, get to work! For I am with you. The GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies is speaking! Put into action the word I covenanted with you when you left Egypt. I'm living and breathing among you right now. Don't be timid. Don't hold back."
The same is true today, God's presence will arrive and will be seen in our lives/ministries/marriages/relationships/churches/government etc when we "really listen" to Him and choose to honor Him by surrendering our agenda and yielding to His purposes and by forgetting our own houses and rushing to adorn His Temple!! God Himself shall motivate us in doing what honours Him. He will assure us of His backing in all that he has called us to do! His rallying call being, "Don't hold back! Don't be timid! I am with you!". God further assures us that as we focus on honoring Him and not ourselves and as we set our hearts on building His House and not our own, He will provide the material resources we need in our work:
"This is what GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies said: 'Before you know it, I will shake up sky and earth, ocean and fields. And I'll shake down all the godless nations. They'll bring bushels of wealth and I will fill this Temple with splendor.' GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies says so. I own the silver, I own the gold.' "
A ministry (or any other activity that serves God's purpose on earth) when run by people whose hearts are focused on exalting God (and not themselves) will never die due to a lack of finances. God Himself will provide the wealth needed to advance His purposes through such a ministry. God's work and His purposes on earth cannot be stifled for want of resources especially where the stewards entrusted with this work seek God's glory and not their own!!
The work performed by hearts that burn with zeal for God's glory is precious in God's sight. A temple that is rebuilt by hearts that purpose to see God's glory is destined to be more glorious than any previous temple. God's work is perfected through such hands (Haggai 2:9):
" 'This Temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning but an even more glorious finish: a place in which I will hand out wholeness and holiness".
Picture our churches, ministries, families, businesses, work places, communities etc as places where God hands out "wholeness and holiness". It can happen and it will happen when we choose to place Him before ourselves. The reverse however is also true. If our hearts are not set on God's purposes above our own, God's decree over us is that we are "contaminated". Chapter 2 verse 14 reads as follows:
"So, these people are contaminated. Their nation is contaminated. Everything they do is contaminated. Whatever they do for me is contaminated.' GOD says so."
If God's glory is not our sole motivation, our acts of kindness, our songs of worship, our gospel hit songs, our most righteous acts are like filthy rags...they are contaminated and immediately become rejected sacrifices that are unacceptable to a Holy God who requires that we build his Temple with His glory as our sole drive:
"Rebuild the temple. Do it just for Me. Honor Me" (Haggai 1:9)
But one might be tempted to ask, "...if we abandon our own goals and desires and the intents of our own hearts, then who shall achieve the same for us? Who shall build our houses as we attend to building God's Temple?" God in His wisdom anticipates this concern and declares to us in chapter 2 verse 18-19:
" 'Now think ahead from this same date - this twenty fourth day of the ninth month. Think ahead from when the Temple rebuilding was launched. Has anything in your fields - vine, fig tree, pomegranate, olive tree - failed to flourish? From now on you can count on a blessing."
Reflection Point:
The question that lingered on my mind after this study was this, "whose House am I building in my ministry/work place/family/community etc? Whose agenda am I truly serving? Am I doing what I am doing purely for God's glory? Is there a part of me that just want to exalt or benefit myself? Could it be that my heart secretly desires applause and honour from people? Could I possibly be engaged in a vain pursuit for the acclaim of the masses and not even be aware of the fact? Is my work for God driven by latent selfish motives? Whose House am I building? Mine or His...?
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for your Word.
I pray that you would search my mind, examine my soul and see if I bear any ill or selfish motives. Show me any areas of my life that are not premised upon the pursuit of your glory. If any such blemish is present in me Lord, I pray that you would sift it out and replace it with a zeal for your glory. May my heart seek your glory in all that I do. Help me focus on building YOUR temple and not adorning my own home while yours lies in ruins. Help me to do everything that I do "just for You" and may I always "honour You".
In Jesus name, Amen.
(continuation of Part 1 below)
The drought referred to at the end of part one of this discourse does not have to be a permanent drought. The text in the book of Haggai refers to it as being only a "season" of drought. This season ends when we choose to honour God by heeding His word, abandoning the selfish intents of our own hearts (which Jeremiah 17:9 describes as being deceitful above all things and desperately wicked) and shifting our motives and focus from our own agenda to God's purposes. Haggai 1:12 describes Zerubbabel and Joshua's response to the message of the Lord that had been delivered by Haggai:
"Then the governor, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak, and all the people with them listened, really listened, to the voice of their GOD. When GOD sent the prophet Haggai to them, they paid attention to him. In listening to Haggai, they honoured God."
As soon as the people had this mental shift and this change of heart...as soon as they "listened, really listened" God was swift to declare in Haggai 1:13, "I am with you!". His presence was invoked among them!
Indeed, as we see in Haggai 2:4-5, after the people had chosen to honour God by putting His interests before their own and rebuilding the Temple, God stirred them up and reassured them of His presence:
" Yes, get to work! For I am with you. The GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies is speaking! Put into action the word I covenanted with you when you left Egypt. I'm living and breathing among you right now. Don't be timid. Don't hold back."
The same is true today, God's presence will arrive and will be seen in our lives/ministries/marriages/relationships/churches/government etc when we "really listen" to Him and choose to honor Him by surrendering our agenda and yielding to His purposes and by forgetting our own houses and rushing to adorn His Temple!! God Himself shall motivate us in doing what honours Him. He will assure us of His backing in all that he has called us to do! His rallying call being, "Don't hold back! Don't be timid! I am with you!". God further assures us that as we focus on honoring Him and not ourselves and as we set our hearts on building His House and not our own, He will provide the material resources we need in our work:
"This is what GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies said: 'Before you know it, I will shake up sky and earth, ocean and fields. And I'll shake down all the godless nations. They'll bring bushels of wealth and I will fill this Temple with splendor.' GOD-of-the-Angel-Armies says so. I own the silver, I own the gold.' "
A ministry (or any other activity that serves God's purpose on earth) when run by people whose hearts are focused on exalting God (and not themselves) will never die due to a lack of finances. God Himself will provide the wealth needed to advance His purposes through such a ministry. God's work and His purposes on earth cannot be stifled for want of resources especially where the stewards entrusted with this work seek God's glory and not their own!!
The work performed by hearts that burn with zeal for God's glory is precious in God's sight. A temple that is rebuilt by hearts that purpose to see God's glory is destined to be more glorious than any previous temple. God's work is perfected through such hands (Haggai 2:9):
" 'This Temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning but an even more glorious finish: a place in which I will hand out wholeness and holiness".
Picture our churches, ministries, families, businesses, work places, communities etc as places where God hands out "wholeness and holiness". It can happen and it will happen when we choose to place Him before ourselves. The reverse however is also true. If our hearts are not set on God's purposes above our own, God's decree over us is that we are "contaminated". Chapter 2 verse 14 reads as follows:
"So, these people are contaminated. Their nation is contaminated. Everything they do is contaminated. Whatever they do for me is contaminated.' GOD says so."
If God's glory is not our sole motivation, our acts of kindness, our songs of worship, our gospel hit songs, our most righteous acts are like filthy rags...they are contaminated and immediately become rejected sacrifices that are unacceptable to a Holy God who requires that we build his Temple with His glory as our sole drive:
"Rebuild the temple. Do it just for Me. Honor Me" (Haggai 1:9)
But one might be tempted to ask, "...if we abandon our own goals and desires and the intents of our own hearts, then who shall achieve the same for us? Who shall build our houses as we attend to building God's Temple?" God in His wisdom anticipates this concern and declares to us in chapter 2 verse 18-19:
" 'Now think ahead from this same date - this twenty fourth day of the ninth month. Think ahead from when the Temple rebuilding was launched. Has anything in your fields - vine, fig tree, pomegranate, olive tree - failed to flourish? From now on you can count on a blessing."
Reflection Point:
The question that lingered on my mind after this study was this, "whose House am I building in my ministry/work place/family/community etc? Whose agenda am I truly serving? Am I doing what I am doing purely for God's glory? Is there a part of me that just want to exalt or benefit myself? Could it be that my heart secretly desires applause and honour from people? Could I possibly be engaged in a vain pursuit for the acclaim of the masses and not even be aware of the fact? Is my work for God driven by latent selfish motives? Whose House am I building? Mine or His...?
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for your Word.
I pray that you would search my mind, examine my soul and see if I bear any ill or selfish motives. Show me any areas of my life that are not premised upon the pursuit of your glory. If any such blemish is present in me Lord, I pray that you would sift it out and replace it with a zeal for your glory. May my heart seek your glory in all that I do. Help me focus on building YOUR temple and not adorning my own home while yours lies in ruins. Help me to do everything that I do "just for You" and may I always "honour You".
In Jesus name, Amen.
1ST DEVOTIONAL STUDY - WHOSE
HOUSE ARE YOU BUILDING? (PART 1)
Scripture
Reading: Haggai 1 & 2
What’s
good people!
I was
really blessed by the Lord through a study that I did on the book of Haggai a
while ago. I've been meaning to post this for a while and I’m glad that
I’m finally doing this today.
Basically,
God had an issue with His people since they had left His Temple in a state of
disrepair while they themselves lived in “pimped out” houses. Verse 2 reads:
God
then invites His people to examine their lives and to see how empty and
unfulfilled they had become as a result of their skewed priorities which really
reflected where their hearts were. I am reminded of Christ's words,
"...where our treasure is, there our hearts will be also" (Matthew
6:21). The people's treasures (and by extension their hearts and minds) were not invested in God but in their own
businesses, their own homes...their own agendas. God's purposes were far
removed from their hearts and so God's Temple lay in ruins. God, in a bid to
turn His people's hearts back to Himself, then tells them this:
"Take
a good, hard look at your life. Think it over. You have spent a lot of money,
but you haven't much to show for it. You keep filling your plates but you never
get filled up. You keep drinking and drinking and drinking but you are always
thirsty. You put on layer after layer of clothes but you can't get warm. And
the people who work for you, what are they getting out of it? Not much - a leaky
rusted out bucket, that's what." (Haggai 1:5-6)
This is
a powerful description of the path our lives will invariably take when we
place our own interests/agenda/comfort/ends/convenience etc before the purposes and glory of God in our work, families, ministries, relationships and other
aspects of our lives. Our efforts outweigh our yield and we are never truly
fulfilled. Even when we acquire and amass all that we can, it only leaves us
emptier than we were before and the Lord explains why in verse 9 onwards:
"And
why?...because while you've run around, caught up with taking care of your own
houses, my Home is in ruins. That's why. Because of your stinginess. And so
I've given you a dry summer and a skimpy crop. I've matched your tight-fisted
stinginess by decreeing a season of drought, drying up fields and hills,
withering gardens and orchards, stunting vegetables and fruit. Nothing - not
man or woman, not animal or crop - is going to thrive."
A lack
of zeal for God and the attendant self-absorption that comes with it only
yields a harvest of nothingness!! God decrees a season of drought when we put ourselves and our interests first! In the words of Isaiah, he is indeed a jealous God!
BUT,
this drought is not the end of the story, there is yet hope....catch me on Part 2 of
this devotion...coming soon!
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