The idea of personal growth and maturity is something that most humans strive for. People want to grow, mature and gain knowledge and understanding in this life. When one chooses to take on the spiritual life of following Jesus Christ, there is a formation that takes place as a follower and as a proclaimed child of the living God. Through taking on this spiritual formation, there are many ways that one can grow and mature. The understanding and accepting the deep and profound love of Jesus is foundational to the spiritual formation of Christians and leads into any other form of growth. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all …show more content…
Through the bible there are many scriptures that give the foundation of love as the basis for spiritual growth. When the bible is read as a guide and through the purest form of love from the Father, we see love weaving in and out throughout every story through the Old and New Testaments. It can often be perceived that love only made way into the bible once the birth and life and death of Jesus came in the New Testament. Reality is that when the Old Testament is looked further into, we see a God who is fighting for the hearts of His people whom He loves dearly. He fights for the nation of Israel and will do anything to gain their hearts for himself. This picture of fighting for the Israelites in the Old Testament is such a beautiful picture of how He will continue to fight for each of us, His children, His creation, His people. “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.” (Exodus 15:13). The Lord already had plans of redemption and in the Old Testament the picture of His redemption of the Israelites gives future picture to the redemption He knew was yet to come through the sacrifice of the death and resurrection of His son. To understand the heart of the Father has always been love is incredibly profound to growth of any follower of Jesus …show more content…
The longing to be loved and to love another is so great. This love comes from the Father who desires such a deep and personal and intimate relationship with each of His children. To be loved is to be the one who humbly accepts a gift freely. To love in return is not to repay but to accept love. To love as the Father has loved, is to trust His deep love and through being loved, we are free to give love. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” (John
Solle explains that a “[r]eal encounter in love can only take place in mutuality, not in an asymmetrical relationship of dependence…we know God only if we also know how much God needs us” (184). Love requires mutuality and vulnerability; it requires letting oneself be known. If God is love, then God must allow God’s self to be known. Solle argues that God allows God’s self to be known most clearly in the relational, non-coercive and pacifistic nature of Jesus. She states “The only capital with which [Jesus] came into the world was his love, and it was as powerless and as powerful as love is. He had nothing but his love with which to win our hearts” (187). Solle explains that we know God needs us because God reveals God’s desire for relationship in Jesus and reveals God’s vulnerability in the
and grow in the scope of their experience and understanding of their faith.1 All Christians engage
Though introspection, we can pull ourselves from physical matters to spiritual matters, searching the soul for an inner memory of God, and thus better serve God (and the Force). Ultimately, love is not wrong, so long as love is through God. “Love them, then, in Him” (82).
Neely opened her paper with a powerful but yet simple scripture from the Bible. “God is Love.” (1 John 4.16) I believe this is one of the many important scriptures to look back on when talking about a Christian worldview. Love is the core of my Christian worldview. In Luke's Gospel, Jesus mentions this "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” He says, "Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back…” (Luke 6:30-36) Christian love is giving to others what you would want them to give to you in that situation, even if they can’t give it back.
This love is an unpretentious and genuine love directed towards each other as kindred spirits. It is not focused on kinsman from the same country, same city, or the same town. It is not bound for those of the same religious beliefs, ethnic groups, or cultural groups. Rather, it sees the differences and reinforces it with love. The apostle Paul exemplified it by saying: Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” It is a love that is defined as a part of the household that is intrinsically in the Body of Christ. Frequently, when I am in church on in communication with people of faith, saying I love you, is an expression of that Philia
The aim of this assignment is to provide a critical analysis of theory in relation to psychological and emotional impact and its application to social work. I will look at the psychological and emotional impacts in relation to discriminatory and oppressive constructions in order to develop and demonstrate my understanding of social work within a multicultural diverse society.
It is rather difficult to speak of love in an original sense today. If someone were to ask an individual to define love, a common response would be, “love cannot be explained, it cannot be defined”. This answer would be acceptable if love was equally felt for and between all people. But anyone would have to agree to the fact that there are different degrees and levels of love. Someone would not love his or her family members the same way they would his or her spouse. Love varies between different levels of action and feeling, and a definition of each level must be discovered in order to understand its varying power. Martin Luther King Jr. felt the need to address this particular issue when discussing the principles behind the non-violent student movement for civil rights. King felt that a working idea of love was the keystone to the philosophy of a non-violent protest. Turning to the Greek language and idea of love, King was able to define three particular levels, eros, philia, and agape. His goal was to take one of these three levels and use it as the definitive quality of the non-violent movement.
Growing up for me some would say it was rather difficult and in some ways I would agree. There have been a lot of rough times that I have been through. This has and will affect my life for the rest of my life. The leading up to adoption, adoption and after adoption are the reasons my life were difficult.
Love is arguably the most powerful emotion possessed by mankind; it is the impalpable bond that allows individuals to connect and understand one another. Pure love is directly related to divinity. Without love, happiness and prosperity become unreachable goals. An individual that possesses all the desired superficial objects in the world stands alone without the presence of love. For centuries love has been marveled by all that dare encounter it. Countless books and poems have been transcribed to explain the phenomenon of love, but love surpasses all intellectual explanations and discussions. Love is not a definition, but rather a thought, an idea. This idea, the idea of love, burns inside us all. Instinctually, every soul on Earth is
What is love? I remember a time when “I love you” was the hardest phrase to say to the person you really had feelings for because you knew when you said those words it would change the course of your relationship forever. But what is the true meaning of love? “The dictionary defines love as a feeling of strong personal attach-ment induced by sympathetic understanding or by ties of kindred; ardent affection for one’s children; man’s adoration for God; strong liking; fondness; good will, al love of learning; love of country.” (Bell, pg. 10) According to Bell all of these definitions convey the outward appearance of love. He says that when looking at love that we need to take an inventory of our feeling to find out if we are truly displaying the type of love that God calls agape love. Bell says we need to ask ourselves the following questions: Do I return love? In any relationship love is a two way street. A marriage or relationship will not last very long if only one person is showing love and the other is not responding in kind. As a matter of fact, a spiritual relationship works in pretty much the same way. The bible says that God first loved us, but if we do not return that love to Him the relationship may diminish. As a Christian we must first love the unsaved person just enough to go to them and share the good news of the gospel. Then after that person has received the gospel of Jesus it is then up to them to accept it and return the love by giving their life to Christ. “Ministry is the first stage of this exchange of love.” (Bell, Pg 11)
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” These scriptures clearly point out God’s love. In George W. Peters book A Biblical Theology of Missions says this about God’s love, “Divine love is that impelling and dynamic quality in which God moves out of Himself and in which He relates Himself in all His beneficence and sufficiency to His creation. His love motivates Him eternally to communicate and to impart Himself to the object of His relationship” (59 & 60). Peters notes, love is: outgoing dynamic relationship (Romans 5:8), sacrificial active relationship (John 3:16), comprehensive relationship (John 3:17), and finally love is manifold relationship; which he says manifolds according to the character, conditions and needs of its object” (60). God is love. Also God is relational; Peter says on page 57, “God is a God of relationships”; the book of Ezekiel 37:27 says, “My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people” and Jeremiah 32:38 says, “ They will be my people, and I will be their God.” From these scriptures it is clearly known that God the Father desires intimate relationship with His people. The
In the Old Testament Gods love for His people is revealed in the form of a covenant between God and the nation of Israel. The Old Testament contains the historical testimony of Israel as a nation. It shows clearly Israel’s triumphs and its failings in their covenant relationship as they journey through time. The Old Testament also contains examples of how God remains faithful to every word of His promises even though Israel is disobedient and is diversified as a result of their own actions. God’s consistent grace and mercy to Israel is shown as He interacts with generation after generation. This same consistent love grace and mercy is available today for all who accept Him and ask for His mercy & grace through His son Jesus Christ.
So how do christains measure spiritual growth? What would be the deciding factor for a christain to agree that there has been improvement in his faith or his Christian walk? For a Christian, spiritual growth can be either of a quantitative nature or a qualitative one.
It is a kind of love that moves Israel and thence the world through the person of Christ into a loving relationship with God.” The Hermeneutic of love, in summary, is realizing just what God has done for you in your life, and just how much God loves you. With that reality
This was because He knew that love was the key to growing in their faith and living a life free from Sin.13 Love is only possible because God created it, He knew that humans needed love.14