Notable Quotes:

As a 20 year old you are deciding who you’ll be at age 40.

The decisions of the heart you make when you’re younger determines who you become years later.

Seeing honor given to God is more important than sucking air.

Activities lead to practices which lead to habits, shaping the person you’re becoming

I’m deciding who I’m becoming and today is a new day!

Video is here: http://www.adabible.org/weekend_services/audio_archive.php (click on Far From Home)

One of the things I have been struggling and studying through has to do with this idea of loving your neighbors like you love yourself.

I have heard this many times but this time the words, “Like you love yourself” really stood out to me. It seems to me as I ponder this that You need to

1. take care of yourself
2. so that you can serve others and
3. by serving others you are loving them and
4. by loving them you are expressing love toward God

Before this I always looked at this passage as I need to love my neighbor. I never really considered the second half of the verse and what that meant.

So my goal should be to keep myself in good shape so I then can be guided by the Holy Spirit to really love my neighbor in whatever way I am called to. In doing that, I am showing God honor and bring Him glory which is what He is calling me towards…

What do you think?

One of the things that God has really focused my heart toward is learning to love like God does. So today I want to begin a series of posts that first look at defining what love looks like from God’s perspective.

Then I would love to explore what it looks like for us to practically live that out day to day in the 21st century. What’d ya say? Will you join me on this journey to explore love and what the Bible says it is or is not?

First it would be good to define love. For this I dove into a recently acquired copy of the Zondervan Bible Dictionary. Here is a summary of what it said:

Love is the very nature of God – 1 Jn 4:8,16

It is essential to man’s relationship with God – Matt. 22:37-40

All the Law and the Prophets hang on love – Matt 22:40, Rom 13:8-10

In this superior attribute all other attributes are harmonized

Jesus Christ is the unique object of this eternal love – Isa. 42:1, Matt. 3:17, 17:5, Jn 17:5

Love is created in the believer by the Holy Spirit – Rom. 5:5, Gal. 5:22

Love is the chief test of true Christian discipleship – Luke 14:26, Jn 13:35, 1 Jn 3:14