Friday, February 10, 2012

A Glimpse of Heaven


“To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven”


We have looked at the meaning of love over the last few days.  We have discovered that it can reveal itself in many forms. 

Eros - erotic, sensual, passionate.
Phileo - friendly, community, family
Agape - abundant, free, never ending





To share the contract between the two consider this:

Phileo - a love of pleasure, a love of delight,  a love called out due to the character of the object
Agape -  a love of preciousness, a love of esteem, a love that values, a love that prizes
These terse definitions cannot in any way explain the many facets of love, but if it gives us even the minutest understanding, so that we can discern how we are being loved or how we are loving, then we must begin there.

I want to finish the list of practical features of God's love.  I pray the other list gave you encouragement.

16.  Love does not engage in comparison.
17.  Love is not possessive, seeking to own or control another person.  (Young ladies...remember this)
18.  Love seeks the highest good of the other, with no thought of benefit to oneself.  (Can you imagine
       a marriage like this???)
19.  Love does not find its identity or life in the one loved.  ( Our identity should first be Christ)
20.  Love is the antidote to fear and paranoia. (I John 4:18)
21.  Love involves SELF-denial, SELF-renunciation, SELF-sacrifice, humility.
22.  Love is willing to suffer slights, hurts, abuse.
23.  Love builds others up, nurtures, edifies, it is constructive, NOT destructive.
24.  Love seeks to avoid grieving or offending another. (Romans 13:10; 14:15)
25.  Love of one's enemy removes his relation or power. (Matthew 5:40)
26.  Love does not take the situation into one's hand to resolve the problem.  (Need to read this one
       about a hundred times)!
27.  Love is not retaliatory (Romans 12:17); it turns the other cheek (Matthew 5:39).
28.  Love allows one to be free as God intended them to be. 
29.  Love dissolves the emotional blocks which keepus from sensitivity to others.
30.  Love knows how to confront and discipline, and knows when to be tough.

So....what do you think? 
Can you find delight in any of these in the relationships you have?  Are there hardly any?  Are you settling or afraid to confront?

None of us want to be rejected.  We all want to be loved for who we are and treated with respect.  But, we have to "know" God's kind of love to be successful in these Heart Ventures.   His love is so pure that it will help us filter out the dross in our own hearts, and then help us to be strong to wait for the best He has for us.

Oh, I hope all of you get chocolate, flowers, a sumptious dinner...all the "frills" of the true spirit of Valentine's Day!  You deserve it!  But, like the little saying I posted on Facebook....I hope its not a chubby, little toddler coming at you with a weapon....called Cupid!!!

God's Word and His love for you will help bring heaven into your love life.  I frequently read I Corinthians 13, because this woman needs to be daily reminded of the kind of love God gave to me, and that He wants me to give to others.  Any other kind is based on "me"!

Love.....be loved....seek love....seek God's love.  When our souls are filled with the purest and sweetest measure of His abundant love, then we can be those vessels that pour out that love to others.


“To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven”



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