NeedEncouragement.com
"LOVE"
Luke 10:27
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
Types of Love
The meaning of the word love has been used in so many different ways.
We often say that "WE LOVE OUR..."
- A Family Member or a close Friend
- Chocolate
- A Favorite T.V Program
- Our Dogs or Cats
- Sports
- and the list goes on and on...
This obviously shows us that there are many different types of love, because if you said that you love Chocolate and that you love my certain friend, obviously you could be saying the truth, but with obvious different meanings of the word. Below are some simple definitions of the same word "LOVE" to clearly help point out the different meanings of "LOVE"
Eros Love Is a type of love that was not actually used in the New Testament but it meant physical passion; its gratification and fulfillment. The Greek word is probably not used in the New Testament because the origin of the word came from the mythical god Eros, the god of love. It is implied in many in many verses in the Bible and is the only kind of love that God restricts to a one-man, one-woman relationship within the bounds of marriage 1 Cor. 7:25; Eph. 5:31, Heb. 13:4.
Storge Love is the natural bond between mother and child, father and son or daughter,
Phileo Love is a love of the affections. It is delighting to be in the presence of another person, warm feelings that comes and goes with intensity. The Bible encourages it but it is never a direct command. God never commands phileo since this type of love is based on the feelings. God Himself did not phileo the world but rather operated in agape love towards mankind. It is basically impossible to have warm tender feeling toward an enemy but I can agape love them.
Agape Love is God's #1 type of love. It is seeking the welfare and the best for another regardless of how we feel. Agape does not have the primary meaning of feelings or affection. Jesus displayed agape love when he went to the cross and died for you and me regardless of how He felt.
In the gospels Jesus prayed, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt"
Mt. 26:39; Jn. 18:11. Jesus sought the betterment of you and me, regardless of His feelings. Matthew 7:12 says it like this,
"So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets"
1 Corinthians 13 Sheds some light on the word LOVE!
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Watch a very creative and interesting way that some Christians learn how to love stangers!
How much Love do you have in you?
Here is how you can find out. Take a careful look at this character and fruit of love from God’s most precious Word by examining the passages below. Now ask yourself:
How do I show Love in my daily life?
What can I do to develop a more loving attitude?
What blocks love from being expressed in me?
How can I make love function better, stronger, and faster, even in times of uncertainty and stress?
Galatians 5:22-23
The General idea of Love (John 13:1; 15:13; 1 Corinthians 13:3; 1 John) will enable us to appreciate our brothers and sisters in the Lord, and, of course, our family and others around us. Love is taking the initiative to build up and meet the needs of others without expecting anything in return. Love desires to seek and apply what God has to say. It also runs the full spectrum from romanticism and the quest for personal satisfaction, to God, and the meaning of life. And, when you have the wrong idea and definition of love, it will adversely impose on all those areas in your life. What love is not is as important as what love is!
The opposite is Hate, Lust, and Disgust. It covers the areas from disliking people who are different to deliberately seeking malice and destruction of what the Lord has for us! Not having real love will leave you empty and alone. Lust is not just the opposite it is the counterfeit!
· Here are positive examples from Scripture (1 Sam. 20:17; Matt. 13:35; 1 John 4)
· Here are negative examples from Scripture (Matt. 6:5; 23:6; 1 John 4:19; Rev. 2:4)
Further Questions
- How would you define Love?
- Would you rather love, or be loved?
- Look at 1 Corinthians 13:3. How does your practice of love compare to this passage? Can you give an example from your life?
- When have you loved the best?
- In what situation did you fail to love when you should have?
- What issue is in your life that would improve with more love?
- How can I learn more about what God wants out of my life?
Think through the steps you need to take to put love into action in a specific instance or to improve it. Consider examples such as a person who is mean to you at work, or a distant relative, or a neighbor with whom you may not get along. Write a love letter to your spouse, or, if you are not married, to a pretend spouse, with the points you have learned so far.
Most people assume that love is the most important thing in a marriage, or the most important reason to get married! You will frequently hear people in TV, in the movies, out on the streets of life and even in the church saying, I do not need to work on love and relationships, it will just happen. And, if not, it was not meant to be, and I can get out of it if it does not work out. How sad that philosophy is! But, when you carefully examine love from the Bible, you will find that it is a choice over and against any feeling or aspiration of what we may want it to be or mean (Colossians 3:12-17; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10; 5:8-13).
Love is a choice that also happens in a seemingly magical and metaphysical way, as poets have tried to explain it throughout the millennias. But, is that it? The Bible tells us that love is more than a feeling; it has segments and characters to it. Love is also a choice, a decision that must be perused and worked on.
In our human mind, we may see it as magical, as if it “just happened,” but, without pursuing its true meaning and character, it will dispel and waste away. So, when we do receive that spark of love that we cannot explain, to keep that magic, that romance, that spark going requires us to do something about it. If we do not work on it, the spark that was once there will vanish as quickly and as suddenly as it came. It will fade into the night, leaving us in the darkness of the maze of relationships, lost and confused. The way we keep that flame from blowing out is our understanding and modeling the character of love. So, as it becomes contagious and spreads, it flames and excites, burns and grows, so the winds of the ups and downs of a relationship will not blow it out!
We do not necessarily fall in love as the love songs and movies proclaim, because, you may well fall out of it, faster than you fell in it! If you never choose to make it a commitment, with love, you will never have it, or, if you do, you will not keep it! Love is a verb; it requires action that is implied for being a verb, action to do something with it. What are you doing with it? Are the precepts of 1 Corinthians 13 being put into action with your friends, family, acquaintances, and your spouse? If not, what is in the way of that verb action?
If you ask most couples who are thinking about marriage, or who are already engaged, why they are getting married, they usually will say: “Why, we're in love.” It has been through studying the Word, plus, over twenty years of pastoral counseling experience, that has prompted me to question the validity of this motive. Yes, love is essential and powerful! However, if that is all you have, you will end up with nothing! The number one mistake people make when they date is to look just for love. The number one mistake married couples make is thinking that their love is all they need. This puts their brains “on hold” from everything else.
Yes, love is putting the precepts of 1 Corinthians 13 into action, but most people, including Christians, do not even know what real love is! Choosing a life partner should never be based on love alone. A marriage cannot last on love alone. This may sound like crazy talk, but think it through. Have you ever seen a relationship work with just love? No, not for movie or TV stars who have everything going for them, not for the singers who sing about it, and not even for the Beatles! Because, they do not know what love is, nor do they really put it into practice.
Have you ever known some to get married to someone they did not love? Most, if not all, people who get married do it for love, yet, according to most statistical evidence, fifty percent will divorce in less than five years. So, what happened to the love? If love is all we need, should not it have worked? Why did it not work? Because, there never was real love, they misunderstood what love is, or, they had nothing but love. Perhaps they let that spark of love flame out in neglect, so that there was a huge vacuum in their relationship! Love should not be the horse in front of the cart. Love alone cannot influence a relationship. Love needs to be a result, not a cause, for getting married. Love is the result of a good marriage, not the fuel to make it. Love is an attitude that is followed by action; when this does not happen, love will sit and go nowhere.
God's love must be our model for life. It must flow into us from Christ, and in return flow out from us to those around us. God's love is the ultimate power for the Christian. We are to be fueled and empowered by love in all situations. Christian love is the turning of our backs to self-concerns, and facing our neighbors. It is the surrender of our will to His. Because, if love does not take us beyond our self-interests, then what we have is lust, not love! As the passage of 1 Corinthians 13:3 would say, we become just a noise that has no reason or purpose. Out of true love, God the Father gave us His Son, and the Son gave His life in replacement for ours. The Son sent the Spirit to save us, and we should be literally overwhelmed—consumed--with extreme joy and gratitude for what God has done for us.
Remember; “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant.” (NAS) What love is not is as important as what love is! Be aware that we will be held accountable and even judged on what we do not do or refuse to see when sin and pride are in the way (Matt. 23:27; Luke 19:42)!
The Character of Love
By Dr. Richard J. Krejcir
View all of our many Encouraging Books
Encouraging And Inspirational
Links:
