Truth And Love

I John 2:15 Don`t love the world, neither

the things that are in the world. If anyone

loves the world, the Father`s love isn`t in

him.

16 For all that is in the world, the lust

of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the

pride of life, isn`t the Father`s, but is

the world`s.

17 The world is passing away with its

lusts, but he who does G-d`s will remains

forever.

3:18 My little children, let`s not love in

word only, neither with the tongue only,

but in deed and truth.

4:8 He who doesn`t love doesn`t know G-d,

for G-d is love.


There is the world's version of love, which
scripture defines as lust, an endless
desire for more, and the scriptural version
of love that finds it's source in the
Creator. The former is a self-destructive
urge, while the latter is of an eternal
nature.


Over the years, I've had an opportunity to
see different aspects of this category.
Even though I've seen the appeal of lust, I
have not had the desire to pursue it. It's
a pursuit that does not end well. As it
goes, you get whatever it is that you have
a desire for, but for some strange reason,
the desire is not quenched. It only leads
toward a desire for more, and more, and
more. It becomes a trap, that is never
able to offer satisfaction. Silly me. I
was thinking that everyone is able to see
the disatisfaction that sets in once desire
is served. Although I can't recall the
specifics, there is an aspect of Eastern
religion that explores the subject of
desire, and sees the problem. Again, it's
the fact that the desire has to be aimed at
an object larger than self, in order to
gain any level of satisfaction. It's the
need to worship, and it can only find
satisfaction in worship of our Creator.


It's not so obvious, I suppose. Without
the truth of scripture, lust is seen as
just another appetite to be fed, just the
same as hunger always demands more food.
You would think that, at least, the idea of
getting on the treadmill every day, and
having to run faster all the time just to
keep up, would
eventually persuade people to moderate the
desire toward something more rewarding,
even if it was not worship of their
Creator. You know, enough is enough. But
it doesn't quite work that way. It's never
enough. Not only is it required to keep up
with the Joneses, but it's desired to get
one step ahead of everyone else too. If
that's what you want to call it.


Somewhere along the way, I decided that the
best approach was to let the Smith's try to
keep up with the Joneses, and I'll just
keep up with myself. There is plenty to
stay busy with. I can even spend time
with my kids. I am able to spend time
each day moving these electrons around on
my CRT. To me, it's an aspect of worship
that I can perform each day -- to type out
some of the teachings of scripture. It's
all about Jesus. I mean, if I had to spend
all my time trying to maintain some kind of
'lifestyle', there would be no time left
over at the end of the day for the really
important things. The things that I get to
do every day. The things that I enjoy
doing every day. It's not that I've never
had a place of employment that didn't
offer something of interest, it's that the
paycheck was never the most important part
of my life. There has to be an element of
worship that involves something larger than
self. Here's a thought from the Apostle
Paul, about having a desire to find
contentment rather than a desire for all
that the world seems to offer. Haven't
heard a sermon on this passage lately:

I Tim 6:8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.


There is a phrase, labor of love. That, in
my way of thinking is the ultimate --
working at something that involves a sense
of love. And if that love is in the
highest sense of the word -- Divine Love --
then there can be no greater sense of
satisfaction. Too bad that alot of
religion is run like a business these days.
The love is gone, baby. And you can tell.


Here's where it begins to get tricky. As
soon as the subject of love comes up,
there are all sorts of opinions. Of
course, the favorite passage about love, is
I Cor. 13. But I think that these little
passages in I John are direct and simple.
No need to fret over translations and the
complex statements of other passages. This
passage says it plainly. Here's a comment
from Wesley:
--->
1JO 2:16 The desire of the flesh - Of the

pleasure of the outward senses, whether of

the taste, smell, or touch. The desire of

the eye - Of the pleasures of imagination,

to which the eye chiefly is subservient; of

that internal sense whereby we relish

whatever is grand, new, or beautiful. The

pride of life - All that pomp in clothes,

houses, furniture, equipage, manner of

living, which generally procure honour from

the bulk of mankind, and so gratify pride

and vanity. It therefore directly includes

the desire of praise, and, remotely,

covetousness. All these desires are not

from G-d, but from the prince of this

world.
--->

That pretty much covers the whole range,
and shows in clear contrast the difference
between love and lust, as they are defined
in scripture. Like I said yesterday, truth
is difficult, but love is near impossible.
It's my conviction that in order to find
love, the kind defined in scripture, the
first prerequisite is truth. It's one
reason why truth is important, because it
leads to other things.


In the I Cor. 13 passage, it says that the
greatest desires are faith, hope and love.
It seems to me that without a foundation of
truth, there can be none of these three.
Can genuine faith be held in something that
is known to be uncertain? I don't think
so. And it appears to me that the popular
philosophies have managed to suppress these
christian qualities of faith, hope and
love, by attacking the notion of truth.
Take a look at it. A closer look. Genuine
faith requires more than just a vague
belief. Genuine faith requires the
assurance of a truth. That would be Jesus.
There's alot more to this idea of true
faith. But for today, let's take a look at
love.


Love is a popular subject. Like the rest
of pop culture, it's been distorted. From
my own experience, I can say that the
practice of love is a rare occasion. I've
been fortunate to know people who knew
something about love. It seems that those
people are rare. As rare as those who
practice truth. These are qualities that,
even though much has been said about them,
are not in vogue. They are very much out
of style. It's easy to see why. Just
reread the passage from Wesley above. The
way of the world is lust, not love. But
that's what we call it. It reminds me of a
story that I heard once. While
traveling, he stopping in a restuarant and
ordered the fresh fruit plate. It came to
the table and it was obviously out of a
can. When the waitress was asked about the
'fresh' fruit, she replied, Well, that's
what we call it... We call it love, but it's
something else.


Is any of this to say that I have aquired
the capacity to love. Oh, heavens no.
From these posts, it should be obvious that
I'm still trying to get a handle on
'truth', let alone wade through all the
confusion surrounding 'love'. And yes, my
skeptical nature goes into high gear as
soon as I hear someone who wants to tell me
or anyone else about love. So, that
narrows it down nicely, to scripture.
The truth about love.


There's no shortage of pride, lust, vanity
and the fallen nature of man. Love is
Divine. That's the massage of I John 4:8.
G-d is love. It's something that we don't
see very often, in practice. Another
comment from Wesley:
--->
1JO 4:8 G-d is love - This little sentence

brought St. John more sweetness, even in

the time he was writing it, than the whole

world can bring. G-d is often styled holy,

righteous, wise; but not holiness,

righteousness, or wisdom in the abstract,

as he is said to be love; intimating that

this is his darling, his reigning

attribute, the attribute that sheds an

amiable glory on all his other perfections.
--->

In the first comment from Wesley, he points
out that there is the notion of love that
originates in heaven and the notion of love
that originates in hell. 'All these

desires are not from G-d, but from the

prince of this world. ' The prince of this

world is the
devil. Whether you want to believe it or
not, scripture tells us that there is a
source of evil, who stands against G-d and
everything that's good.


It should be no surprise that scripture has
something to say about truth and love.
They are qualities that find their source
in the nature of the Divine. Because of
that, they are foriegn to this world. They
are qualities that resonate with the nature
of man, because man is created in the image
of G-d. The challenge, these days, is to
recognize the difference between the real
deal and the counterfeit. Jesus is the
genuine article.

John 3:16 For G-d so loved the world, that

he gave his only begotten Son, that

whosoever believeth in him should not

perish, but have everlasting life.

That's the truth about love.