What is Love?

Love is not words, nor is it acts of kindness. Does this shock you to hear this?

Love is a mentality of deep concern about another human being.

People can do acts of kindness to elevate themselves, this is not love, although kindness can come from a heart of love.

People can say kind things, this too is not love, however saying kind things can come out of a heart of love.

When we love someone we care what happens to them, whether or not their life aligns with the principles of Christ. When our lives align with the principles of Christ that is where there is the greatest blessing.

When we love someone we are more interested in their inner heart than their outward expression. When the inner heart aligns with the outward expressions there is where we find genuine Christ-like love.

Many ungodly people do acts of kindness because it makes them feel good, without much if any concern about the person for whom they do the deeds. These people need to have others observe the good deeds to gain their favor or accolades.

Matthew 6:1-2 "1“Be careful not to perform your righteous acts before men to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2So when you give to the needy, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. Truly I tell you, they already have their full reward.…"

The truly loving kind person never tells others about their good deeds. They are satisfied that the person receiving their gift of care is blessed. No blessing has to come back to the giver who has the love of God residing in them.

When Christ died on the cross for the sins of others, He had no blessing to Himself, it was completely sacrificial. He had nothing to gain by the terrible monstrous torture He went through on the cross, except that He loved those He died for, those who will trust in Him.

Truly godly kind loving people do their acts and have their attitudes because it is the mind of Christ from whom they operate.

When we are born again walking with Christ we do not have to work up kindness or love, it is a part of our very being, therefore it is not something we have to think about or try to be, it is as natural as breathing to us.

Those who walk in self-exaltation cannot possibly have the mind of Christ or the desire to be like Him. They are completely satisfied with themselves, they are their own god in their own mind.

The fruit of the Spirit is not good deeds, it is the very nature of God. It has become a sort of DNA to our soul.

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

When we fail and temporarily lean into our feelings through the desires of the flesh we are tormented with guilt that we have offended the Holy Spirit that lives in us. We cannot stand to continue with the wrong attitude or action. Those who love the Lord and live by the Holy Spirit hate sin as much as Christ in them does. This is why born-again believers are so sensitive to any thought that they may have hurt someone.

1 John 3:8-10 "…8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the very start. This is why the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil. 9 Anyone born of God refuses to practice sin, because God’s seed abides in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.…"

These are some clues whether or not someone claiming to be a Christian has been changed into a new creation by Christ. When we are changed we are no longer the person we used to be, loving the way unbelievers think, we now love the way Christ thinks.

Hallelujah!

Will You Bail Out or will you Soldier On!

James 1:2-4 "2 Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."

When we face trials we don't attempt to bail ourselves out through protest and disobedience. God walks through with us as we learn the lessons from the trials through the help of the Holy Spirit.

So many people bail themselves out before they have a chance to learn the lesson and before they learned endurance for the sake of Christ.

Divorce and remarriage have become the go-to solution for marriage difficulties. Many people who divorce miss the blessing of watching God work by "deleting" their spouse before God shows them their own hearts and before He works in their spouse's heart.

Those who adamantly defend divorce and remarriage are not thinking in terms of God's highest, they are only thinking in terms of their personal enjoyment of life. They run like scarred bunny rabbits rather than hanging in there to work through a solution. They do this because they do not hear the Holy Spirit and most do not have Him at all, their help comes from the foolish and beggarly ideas of the world.

Sadly many people miss the blessing of "soldiering on" to come out the other side victoriously against all odds. There is no longer anything noble to fight for in the lives of most people. The suggestion that it is noble and courageous to march into a fight armed with the Holy Spirit is foolishness to those who believe they do not need God and will move forward in their human wisdom to do what they want to do.

2 Timothy 4:3 "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but having itching ears, they shall heap to themselves teachers in accordance with their own lusts."

The lives of many people who divorce and remarry are beggarly missing the blessings of God while they believe all is right with the world. They do not see the pitfalls as a problem, they run from those as readily as they ran from the marriage challenges.

We are living in a "cancel" culture right now, if we don't like someone we "cancel them" as though they have no right to exist. Without compassion, a depth of understanding, and empathy the people move through life seeking only their own interests without regard to the needs and hurts of others.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 "3 But realize this, that in the last days difficult (ragingly insane) times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, 4 treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these."

When trouble comes, and it will seek Christ, not the person or relative who will validate our feelings to bail out. Seek the Word of God for what is right and those people who will bring the Word. Too many people are twisting the Word to fit what they want causing division in the body as well as destruction to marriages that could be reconciled.

1 Corinthians 7:10-11 "…10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband. 11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. "

It was God Who said the words in 1 Corinthians, not me. If someone does not want to believe them then go and argue with God. If anyone is attempting to search the Bible for loopholes to be able to divorce and remarry there are none. Those who say they have a loophole have not consulted God for truth or they would know God hates divorce and any loopholes they thought they found are not valid.

God's Word is true, twisting it to make it say what someone wants does not change His truth, it only makes them a liar.

Acts 5:3-4

"But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

To add to the Bible or subtract from it is to lie against God, this is very serious!