Daily Devotional, Year 2 – May 16 (What Is True Love?)
By admin On January 26th, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 2 – May 16
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What Is True Love?
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“I love hot dogs and pizza!”
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“I love baseball!”
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“I love my wife!”
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The word, “Love” is a catch-all word which encompasses many different forms of affection. And so, it becomes somewhat confusing when somebody says, “I love this!”, or “I love that!”
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Fraternal love (Prehispanic sculpture from 250–900 A.D., of Huastec origin) wikimedia public domain
Kartoffel pizza – cropped photo – Wikipedia – Share-alike License
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JUST LOVE PEOPLE
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There are many Christians who are likewise confused about what it means to love.
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And there are many newcomers into Christianity who throw up their hands in discouragement and say, “I’m just going to love others! That’s all that Jesus wants or expects from us!”
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And so, this word, “Love” is very confusing.
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Question Marks – At a loss – svg – Wikimedia Commons – Share-Alike License
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GREEK WORDS FOR LOVE
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As most Christians understand, there are a number of Greek words for, “Love”, in the Bible. One word is, “Filial”, which means, “I care about you”.
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Another Greek word is, “Ares”, which is a term for, “romantic feelings”.
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The Greek word for God’s love is, “Agape”. It means a charitable love. It is not at all romantic in nature. It means a self-sacrificing love.
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Muskrat Love – cropped photo – www.dapphoto.com – Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
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“PETER, LOVEST THOU ME?”
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One very prominent use of two different kinds of love is found in the exchange between Peter and Jesus, after He was resurrected. Peter had just denied his Lord a short time earlier.
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And now, Peter, a much humbler, and less mouthy disciple, was asked by Jesus…
“He saith unto him the third time, Simon…lovest (Filial) thou Me?
Peter was grieved because He said unto him the third time, Lovest (Filial) thou Me?
And he said unto Him, Lord, thou knowest all things;
Thou knowest that I love (Filial) thee.
Jesus saith unto him, Feed My sheep.”
John 21:17
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This third questioning by Jesus merely asked Peter if he had filial love for his Lord. And Peter sadly acknowledged that his love for Jesus was less than true agape love.
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And so now, Peter was humbled enough to become a shepherd of the flock of God. Now Peter understood that his love was less than it should be. No longer would Peter boast of his great love and loyalty! He knew that he was merely a dirty rotten sinner, completely saved by grace and grace alone!
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Tissot – The Sorrow of Peter – Joyful Heart.com
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LOVE SEEN IN THE CROSS
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But even the word, Agape, does not reveal the full spectrum of Love. The Cross, however, gives us a greater picture of love.
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Because, as we contemplate the Cross, we begin to see other virtues in that one act of supreme sacrificial love.
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Yes, in the Cross, we see that love extends itself far beyond one’s immediate family. The Cross was an act of love for each and every human, no matter how wicked that human is! This kind of love transcends the love found in this world!
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Tissot – As seen from the Cross – Wikipedia – US public domain
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FORGIVENESS
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We also see supreme forgiveness in the Cross.
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It is a forgiveness which transcends human forgiveness.
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HUMILITY
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We also begin to see God’s humility in coming down to this wicked evil world, and completely humbling Himself to the point of having others spit on Him, and mock Him, and put Him on the much-despised Cross, hanging there naked for all the world to see!
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This was humility in all its splendor!
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Sign of the Son of Man Constellation – made of the various constellations on this website
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HONESTY
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But honesty is another virtue which manifested itself in the light of the Cross.
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From His straight-forward testimony before Pilate and Herod, and the High Priests, Caiaphas and Annas, to His refusal to drink the poison which would have somewhat deadened the pain of His incredible payment for the sins of the world.
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These were acts of honesty.
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FAITH
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And of course, the Cross demanded a great faith in His Heavenly Father.
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And that faith was severely tested to the point of His cry…“My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” Mark 15:34.
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At that point, the Father must have withdrawn His presence, to the degree that Jesus didn’t know if His Father had completely and forever forsaken Jesus.
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PURITY
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All during His trial before various authorities, Jesus maintained purity in speech and purity in heart!
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Satan knew this was his last chance to get Jesus to sin in heart. And so, Satan worked through these various authorities, to stir up even a little bit of sin within the heart of Jesus.
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But from beginning to end, Jesus maintained that pureness of heart.
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OTHER QUALITIES OF LOVE
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Well, these are just some of the aspects which make up that word, “Agape”.
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But agape love has other aspects to it, which we cannot now explore, for lack of time: longsuffering, meekness, temperance, holiness, quietness, generosity, self-denial.
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All these virtues (and more) make up the one great virtue of, “Love”.
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And without all these virtues present, there can be no real and true love.
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Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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HOW DO WE FIND LOVE?
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And so, this is the quest for each and every Christian: to finally become filled with the multi-spectrum qualities of the Love of Christ.
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But how do we do that? How in the world do we take hold of the love of Christ?
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Well, the following verse is of great help… “Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” Psalm 119:11
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And so, the more we replace worldly wisdom with God’s precious words into our heart, the more that we become imperceptibly changed into the image of Christ Jesus.
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And by hiding these words of God in our heart, the more easily can God’s Holy Spirit bring all things back to our remembrance.
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TO READ PART 2, CLICK HERE…
May 18 (What Is True Love? Part 2: Parenting)
Mother Child face-to-face – Wikimedia – Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
“Dear Lord, Help me to live by all the various principles of Thy Word. Fill me with Thy incredible love, with all its many qualities…
Girl Praying – Wikimedia – Public Domain
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “Ark of the Covenant Constellation, Pt. 2: How To Enter The Most Holy Place”, or you can also read this shorter article… “May 27th (Through Jesus’ Eyes!)”
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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THE REVELATION 12 DRAGON
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This Dragon constellation appears in the eastern horizon about mid-summer in the pre-dawn hours, spewing his flood-waters northward toward the Revelation 12 Woman in Travail (not pictured in this chart).
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The Wave of Water is primarily composed of the Constellation Auriga. There are two dimmer stars (#’s 1 & 2) which are closest to the Dragon’s mouth. These two dimmer stars are also part of this Wave of Water.
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THE ZODIAC NAMES
It is not the purpose, nor the desire of www.theheavensdeclare.net to give any validity or recognition to the Zodiac or any pagan deities. But unfortunately, the common names of many constellations (such as Scorpio or Sagittarius, etc.), must be given, solely for the purpose of locating them on star-charts.
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READ MORE…
To explore deeper into this subject, please read… “The Dragon of Revelation 12 Constellation”
Question book magnify svg – Wikimedia – GNU license
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TOMORROW…
“MAY 17 (J. S. Bach: “A Devilish Hubbub!”)”
Bach – Hausmann – Wikipedia – US Public Domain
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20+ MINUTE AUDIO STUDY IN JEREMIAH
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ALL‘NOBLE BEREANS’ (open-minded seekers of Bible truth) ARE ENCOURAGED TO BEGIN FOLLOWING THIS 650+ AUDIO BIBLE STUDY THROUGH THE BOOK OF JEREMIAH EACH DAY ON THIS DAILY DEVOTIONAL.
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THIS STUDY #501 IS PRESENTED BY THE LATE HAROLD CAMPING…
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above picture: Prophet Jeremiah – www.christianimagesource.org – Public Domain
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