Tags
Bible, Christianity, God, Jesus, Love
Love. Love. Love. All you need is love. If that’s the case why is it so hard for Christian men to say they love Jesus? I can understand a certain reticence to be too lovely dovey when trying to talk to non-Christian men about Jesus. I can understand focusing on different aspects of God for that. But Christian men? Christian men are often being told that they have been emasculated, that churches provide mainly for women. While I probably wouldn’t argue with all this, is there a case for reclaiming some words rather than trying to say them differently?
It seems to me that the love Jesus displayed was not a frilly, doily type of love but a love that drove Him to the cross. “Greater love has no-one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” said Jesus, and He should know. Jesus’ love caused Him to tell His friends that they showed little faith, to call one of them satan. His love caused Him to call out hypocrites, to upturn tables, to drive crowds into murderous bloodlust. His love drove Him to complete His mission by being tortured and nailed to a tree. His love was patient but it was also true, it was gentle but it was also fierce.
Maybe if we loved more like Jesus we wouldn’t have to convince people that it’s ok to love and be loved by Him. That’s the kind of love I can sign up to.
John 15:12 ‘My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.’
tacticianjenro said:
“We love because He first loved us.” 1 John 4:19
It’s because of His love for us, that we are able to show mercy, grace and love for others, and be forgiving as well. It first starts with His love for us.
Just thought I would share.
Nick said:
That’s certainly true. The point is the way that love is described and portrayed. In the UK at least ‘love’ has been made very feminine and this has an effect on male discipleship and evangelism. If the men in the church could show love to be more balanced, more like Jesus did, then surely that’s a good thing?
It certainly starts with Jesus but where does it go from there?
Steve said:
I think we do need different words, because the love of God shown by Jesus is very different to what is usualy meant by the word today. We don’t really have a single word to sum it up these days.
Love, in the bible could be defined as “acting for the good of the person it’s directed towards”. It might seem odd to view love for Jesus in this way, but lots of Jesus’ sayings back this up. We love Him if we act for His good in the world. Obviously we know from His character that this will always be good for people as well.
Nick said:
I kind of agree and disagree. Yes we need more words but to explain the original word not replace it. While there is some jargon that is unhelpful there are some words that cannot and should not be replaced. For me love is one of these. If we constantly renew our vocabulary we will be forever in confusion, isn’t it better to teach rather than continually refresh?
Your definition is ok but for me it doesn’t go far enough, it is not big or wide enough to encapsulate love.
Steve said:
yeah it wasn’t a closed definition, just one of them, but I think it matches with a lot of what Jesus taught. I just think that the one word we use is unfortunate as it is used to translate 3 different original words.
I’d not got as far as replacing it with anything as there isn’t a single word to use, so I agree we need definitions.
I don’t think there’s anything new to say, just things that have been clouded or forgotten.
Nick said:
Well I’d agree with that!