What Is Love?

Announcements!

Home Groups this Thursday!!!! Don't worry about your home work! Come hang with us instead at 7pm at the Benavidez's home in Brentwood!

Sunday Service: Come join us for another entertaining week of learning about money with Dave Ramsey! 11am at the Student Room at Freedom High School.

We Need Your Help! All the men of our church will be gone at a Men's Retreat so we need all your muscles to help set up and tear down for our church this Sunday! If you can, please come at 6am to help set up or stay after church till about 1:30pm to tear down. We really appreciate it!

Guess What?! We have a guest blogger today that was willing to share his heart about what God has been teaching him recently.

It's Brad!

You all know and love Brad and he has some great insight and advice for you guys on love.

So check out the video and then read on! :)



Love is a dirty four letter word in America isn’t it? We throw that word around as if we know what it means. “Love is a feeling.” “No! Love is actions.” We have different kinds of uses for this word, “I love this La Costa burrito!!!”, “I love you man, you’re my best friend.”, or “I love you (girlfriend/boyfriend/celebrity-sensation-of-the-week’s name here)” [I’m looking at you Justin Beiber!]. We even sing in worship far too carelessly, “We love you Lord”. We say this word often without knowing what it truly means. As with all things in life, lets go to God and see what He says about it.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
(John 15:13 ESV)

I’m sure this verse resonates with most people who grew up in the church. However, how do we harmonize this verse with what Paul says about love?

“If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”
(1 Corinthians 13:3 ESV)

This blew me away when I first put the two side-by-side. How can you give your life away, to sacrifice everything you have for someone, even your life, but not have love? Love cannot simply be actions based on these verses. So are there any other verses that encompass what love is? As a good Christian you should now be thinking “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not want... It does not... What does it not do again?” Thats not where I’m going with this, although all scripture is true, sometimes our understanding of it can be an empty emotionless recital of words.

“We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints”— [My words: We must remember that Paul is talking to the church in Corinth, that’s why he says these next words] —”see that you excel in this act of grace also.
I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.”
(2 Corinthians 8:1-9 ESV)
Paul says that the Macedonian’s love came from their “abundance of joy”. They gave well beyond their means because they couldn’t help it! I don’t believe that God calls us to emotionless obedience. If you read all over the psalms, God commands our joy! So when we say we love God, or we love this person or that person, if it isn’t a result of the joy of our hearts that leave us no other option but give what we can to increase their joy, I question whether we really love at all. I do not say this to discourage, but to encourage. Our service and obedience to God does not have to be out of duty or emotionless actions! It is my conclusion that love has nothing to do with actions. Actions are the result of our love. Lets get out of this mindset of “Stop doing YOUR will, and do GOD’S will!” and move towards, “My will (joy, happiness, pleasure) is to do God’s will.”

-Brad