Learning How to Love

Love is such an easy subject to talk about. But do we really know how to love?

I guess the first thing to do is define love. What I've done here is given you a few definitions of love...

1. What/Who is love?

The Greek work, Phileo which mean natural affection, occurs about twenty five times in the New Testament.

Philadelphia which is used to describe brotherly love, also occurs about twenty five times in the New Testament.

Storge, another Greek word used to describe natural affection between relatives, also appears occasionally.

As I mentioned on Sunday, the most frequent Greek word used for love in the New Testament is agape. Agape refers to moral goodwill that comes from respect, principle, or duty rather than attraction. Agape is very similar in meaning to the Hebrew word "hesed" because both of them involve a sense of dedication. Agape specifically means to love the undeserving, despite disappointment and rejection. AGape is especially appropriate for divine love or the God kind of love. We are capable of this kind of love only as we are led by the Holy Spirit.

So we've described what love is. Now let's look at who love is. The Bible says that God is love. in I John 4:8&16. That settles the who...

There is one more form of love that is only found in the Old Testament and that's eros
. Eros means sexual love, ie; Adam and Eve, Jacob and Rachel or how the writer of the Songs of Solomon use the word.

Love is a commandment of Jesus

Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-38, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. That is the first and great commandment.

2. Why should we love?

Didn't spend a lot of time here because it's really simple. Jesus commanded it...

3. Who should we love?

We should love each other I John 4:7-21
We should love our neighbor Matthew 22:37
We should love ourselves Matthew 22:37
We should love our enemies Matthew 5:43-44
We should love God Matthew 22:37

There is a fourth question that needs to be answered if we plan on learning how to love.

4. Just how do we love each other?

I want to leave some suspense with you here because the Bible speaks very clearly on how we should love one another. Take a look at Romans 13:8-10 and I Corinthians 12:27-13:1-13

It's certainly the time of year to show love. It's in our best interest to learn how. Wouldn't you agree?

Stay blessed,

Pastor Cedric