{"id":303,"date":"2015-01-22T14:47:00","date_gmt":"2015-01-22T14:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/2015\/01\/22\/love-is-difficult-to-define-much-less-live\/"},"modified":"2015-01-22T14:47:00","modified_gmt":"2015-01-22T14:47:00","slug":"love-is-difficult-to-define-much-less-live","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/2015\/01\/22\/love-is-difficult-to-define-much-less-live\/","title":{"rendered":"Love Is Difficult To Define Much Less Live"},"content":{"rendered":"

1 John 3 \u2013 4<\/strong><\/a><\/h1>\n

Verse 3:11 says it all:<\/p>\n

\n

The central truth\u2014the one you have heard since the beginning\u00a0of your faith<\/em>\u2014is that we must love one another.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Please note they are not talking like the 60\u2019s movement where \u201cloving\u201d meant sex. I think of the Youngblood\u2019s song that said \u201ceverybody get together, try to love one another, right now.\u201d The problem with English over the Greek is we can misconstrue the word into \u201clove\u201d into romantic love over compassionate caring for another person. Eros vs Agape is lost in English. But when you boil it down it\u2019s true. If everyone loved each other the way Jesus loved the Church, we would not need to worry following the Ten Commandments.<\/p>\n

Verse 4:1 is something we need to take to heart:<\/p>\n

\n

My loved ones,\u00a0I warn you<\/em>: do not trust every spirit. Instead, examine them carefully to determine if they come from God, because the\u00a0corrupt<\/em>\u00a0world is filled with\u00a0the voices of<\/em>\u00a0many false prophets.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

With the internet today we get overloaded with hoaxes, like the Derbyshire Fairy, that we need to be vigilant on what we believe. It\u2019s not different with people professing Jesus, we need to examine their information. Some are right on while others miss the mark. Prosperity preaching takes advantage of people\u2019s lives to exploit the troubles for profit. Honestly, God may or may not bless you in the way you expected. Either way it\u2019s never going to be easy. Israel had to fight for the Promised Land or almost any story in the Bible. Difficult helps us lean into God so we learn to trust Him during the difficult times.<\/p>\n

How did I drift away from using \u201cdiscernment\u201d in any message you hear to make sure it is not meant to \u201ctickle your ears\u201d.<\/p>\n

Verse 4:20 gives us a real world example of love and God:<\/p>\n

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If someone claims, \u201cI love God,\u201d but hates his brother or sister, then he is a liar. Anyone who does not love a brother or sister, whom he has seen, cannot possibly love God, whom he has never seen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is one of the most difficult things new Christians have to deal with since loving something unseen is difficult. The great thing is as you grow and experience God this love grows and develops. You suddenly understand that although unseen, God is with you all the time. Once you learn this and understand loving God does not mean the \u201cEasy Button\u201d has been pushed, you see His glory. Now this example you see how difficult it is since often siblings are the most difficult to love. The key is to learn it\u2019s not always a warm \u201clovey\u201d feeling, but rather caring through it all.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1 John 3 \u2013 4 Verse 3:11 says it all: The central truth\u2014the one you have heard since the beginning\u00a0of your faith\u2014is that we must love one another.\u00a0 Please note they are not talking like the 60\u2019s movement where \u201cloving\u201d meant sex. I think of the Youngblood\u2019s song that said \u201ceverybody get together, try to … Continue reading “Love Is Difficult To Define Much Less Live”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/emailsfromdad.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}