Last night in our small group we were discussing what love is and what the Bible tells us it is. We looked at scripture we came up with many different questions and scenarios. Where it says, Love your neighbour, we asked what does that mean to love your neighbour. Who is your neighbour. Another question that we asked was how do we love God with all our mind, soul and strength? What does it mean when the Bible tells us that if someone takes something of yours, let him have it. Does that mean that if I stole your digital camera, you would just let me take it? Or would you wrestle me and take it back? Is that love? Where do you draw the line. Obviously God doesn't call us to be walked all over like a bunch of idiots. So how do we let someone walk. What does it mean to seek justice and not revenge?
There were many more questions that we came up with that I can't remember right now (I should've written them down). Anyway, if anyone wants to give their opinion on this subject, feel free to leave a comment.
I feel that to love others we must be willing to go the extra mile for them. Some examples are: helping someone move furniture into their new house; or taking care of someone's kids for a night; or just simply listening to someone who needs a friend. Now, it's all fine and good if we do these things, but is it really love if we do them with a bad attitude, or really can't stand the person but we'll do these actions anyway because God tells us to? I think to acquire true Godly love, we must do things for others with a willing heart and spirit. Not thinking about ourselves, but always have what's best for others in mind.
How do we love God with all our mind? This one was one of the trickiest questions we discussed. Does He mean to keep our thoughts pure. Does it mean we must always be thinking about Him. The thought that I had was that it is not necessarily thinking constantly about Him, but in everything you think or do, we must excercise discernment. We must constantly be conscious of what we are doing and thinking. We must be aware that what we are doing is Godly.
Who is your neighbour? We determined that our neighbour is everyone we meet or cross paths with. We must be loving toward everyone. To love our friends, we determined that a good way was to keep them accountable to actions in their lives. If a Christian brother or sister is blatently sinning, we should call them on it no matter the consequences. This is not an easy thing to do!
The whole 'let the person who took your thing, take it' was a hard one to wrap our minds around. We didn't really come up with an explaination as to what we should do in these circumstances. We toyed with the idea that if you see them do it, try to get it back nicely, but if you don't see them do it, don't accuse someone of doing it and don't try to hunt them down to get it back. Who know's what we should do?
Anyway, gotta get back to work. Thanks for reading my ramblings.
2 comments:
It is in areas like this that I am learning from Dallas Willard in The Divine Conspiracy. This paragraph that I quoted from on my blog gives a glimpse of what we should be:
"Is it then hard to do the things with which Jesus illustrates the kingdom heart of love? Or the things Paul says love does? It is very hard indeed if you have not been substantially transformed in the depths of your being, in the intricacies of your thoughts, feelings, assurances, and dispositions, in such a way that you are permeated with love. Once that happens, then it is not hard. What would be hard is to act the way you acted before."
You are right when you ask if it is really love if we do something with a bad attitude. I think that bad attitude disappears or begins to the more we allow Jesus to change us, transform us and teach us about kingdom living. Then it becomes, as Willard says, hard not to love, not to go the extra mile.
One point Willard also makes in his book is that the teaching surrounding if someone asks for your coat, give him your shirt too, has to do with those who have won legal cases against you in court. You should conscientiously try to help and even meet them before being sued and possibly give them even more than they are about to sue for.
The same applies I think to the statement surrounding the giving of things to those who ask. I'm not sure it means that we just allow ourselves to be victims of crime and do nothing. But, even in the doing (taking legal action to recover stolen goods, for instance) Jesus asks us to act in love, not in hate or revenge as the world often does.
And the giving has to take into consideration the needs of others (your own family, those with greater needs than the one asking, etc.) and your own legal responsibilities (loan payments, etc.).
All of these illustrations of kingdom living that Jesus gives in his sermon on the mount serve, in Willard's words "to bring us to terms with what is in our hearts and, simultaneously, to show us the rightness of the kingdom heart."
You reflect this in your statement "I think to acquire true Godly love, we must do things for others with a willing heart and spirit. Not thinking about ourselves, but always have what's best for others in mind."
It is a good book and I would urge someone in your group to buy it and read it and share some of Willard's teachings because he addresses many of the things you are talking about.
They are good questions, though and you offer some good thoughts. Thanks.
I agree with you that God does not expect us to be walked all over.... but at the same time, if that's what it takes. My opinion on that is a lesson that I learned a very hard way: that things of this world don't really matter, and that they shouldn't be our focus.
To me, it means this: If my car gets broken into, and the thief steals my stereo, I still call the police. But do I moan and groan and hate the thief because my stereo is gone? Maybe at first. But we need to remember that the things of this world are just that: THINGS, and we can't get caught up in them and let them turn our focus away from the one thing that really matters, which is Jesus.
If anything, perhaps we can use that situation to SHOW some of the love that you were talking about in your blog. If me losing my car stereo gives me the opportunity to share Christ with that person, or to even the opportunity to show Christ's love, then it's worth it. Simply bacause it could save that person's soul.
Thanks for your insights Neil. You could be the next Dr. Phil. :)
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