what is love?

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● Col 3:19 . . Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

Harsh can be defined a number of ways.

1• Abrasive
2• Abusive
3• Critical
4• Unfriendly
5• Uncivil
6• Rough
7• Oppressive
8• Cruel
9• Hostile
10• Loud
11• Demanding
12• Intolerant
13• Impatient
14• Insensitive
15• Unyielding
16• Unfair

Those behaviors are very effective at making a Christian wife's existence
bitter, i.e. a living hell; especially a Christian wife who's making an honest
effort to comply with Col 3:18.
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● Col 3:21 . . Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become
discouraged.

The koiné Greek word for "discouraged" is athumeo (ath-oo-meh'-o) which
has to do with breaking the spirit. Really bad cases of embitterment can
cause a child to lose the will to excel; sometimes even the will to live, i.e.
suicidal.
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● Col 4:1 . . Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because
you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

If America's corporations, factories, and businesses would comply with just
that one teensy little edict, it would end the need for labor unions. It would
also put sweatshops and the exploitation of foreign poverty and immigrant
labor out to pasture too.
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[morefaithrequired]

love is solving a sudoku puzzle
love is getting all those nasty weeds out of the garden, then having a beer

 

[JaumeJ]

Forever is now without time to hold us back.

 

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● 1Thess 4:3-7 . . It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you
should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his
own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the
heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong
his brother or take advantage of him.

"wrong his brother" refers to adultery.

● Heb 13:4 . . Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept
pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

Christians commit adultery with Christians? Haw! Does that even need to be
answered? Of course they do; and it goes on all the time, even among
church officers; who by all rights should be setting the example for the rank
and file.

My wife was once friends with the wife of a counselor in a very big church in
San Diego. She confided with my wife (on the QT of course) that it was
amazing the number of church officers and their wives who were messing
around. She couldn't reveal their names of course due to confidentiality
considerations.
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● 1Thess 4:18 . .Encourage each other with these words.

Below are the words to which Paul referred

● 1Thess 4:13-17 . . Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about
those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will
bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to The
Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the
coming of The Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

. . . For The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud
command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God,
and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are
left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet The Lord in
the air. And so we will be with The Lord forever.

In other words: when non Christians and such lose a non Christian loved
one, the loss is assumed permanent; but when Christians lose a Christian
loved one, the loss is presumed temporary.
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● 1Thess 5:11 . . Therefore encourage one another, and build each other up, just as in
fact you are doing.

Building up is just the opposite of tearing down. Christians in Galatia were busy doing
just that.

● Gal 5:15 . . But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not
consumed one of another!

Biting and devouring one another speaks of cannibals and predators.
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[morefaithrequired]

love occurs when the nagging voice inside stops nagging. when you feel a part of something much bigger. when you see the need in others as your own. when you stop feeling overwhelmed by problems real or imagined.

 

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● 1Thess 5:13b . . Live in peace with each other.

In this instance, "each other" probably refers to fellow believers.

The category of peace Paul is talking about is social; viz: harmony in
personal relations. The Hippies and the peace-nics failed to achieve peace
primarily because they couldn't be civil among themselves unless they were
high on mood-altering drugs.

Peace can be defined as: calm, pacific, tranquil, at rest, quiet, and free of
trouble and strife.

A lack of peace is characterized by war, quarrelling, debating, vendettas,
hostility, grudging, fault finding, nit picking, chafing, competition, rivalry,
cold shouldering, factions, taking sides, cliques, disorder, antagonism,
fighting, militancy, protests, conflict, struggles, et al.

NOTE: Never assume that everyone you meet in church is a fellow believer.
Going to church on Sunday is just what some people do, and probably have
done ever since they were kids. There was a time when going to church on
Sunday was considered good citizenship; and quite a few people were there
for no other reason; i.e. church sort of fills out their social résumé. And then
some people attend church because they're lonely and wanting to meet
some new friends; etc, etc, etc, etc.
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[morefaithrequired]

Love is never having to apologize for not reading the whole Bible.

 

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● 1Thess 5:14b . . comfort the discouraged

A discouraged person is someone who's given up all expectation that a
situation will improve or change; viz: despairing.

In order to obey that directive, it's necessary to become personal with the
people with whom you attend church. Too many Christians are like little
islands of humanity in church. They warm a pew on Sunday morning and
then get up and leave without bothering to spend even one minute mingling.
They don't attend Sunday school because in Sunday school you meet
people-- you associate with them; you get to know them, and they get to
know you.

As disagreeable as that might be for private types of Christians, Sunday
school is the best place in church to go for sympathy, for encouragement,
and for support. Unfortunately, not many Christians can deal with negativity;
and tend to distance themselves from people down in the dumps.

NOTE: In Dr. Laura Schlessinger's book "Ten Stupid Things That Men Do To
Mess Up Their Lives" she lists men's propensity to fix things. In other words:
instead of simply lending a sympathetic ear to people's problems, some men
tend to see people with problems as "broken" and in need of repair; and
then of course they take the initiative to begin offering unsolicited remedies.
No; the idea is to console the discouraged rather than "fix" them.
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[tantalon]

Love has two parts: the right feelings or emotions, coupled with the right actions. To do RIGHTLY is to love. For example, John 3: 16, "For God so loved the world, ( the EMOTIONAL part of, pity and compassion ) that He gave his only begotten Son, ( the action or works part ). Another example would be: "if you Love ME, keep my commandments" and " love works NO ILL to his neighbour" 1 John 2: 3-6. tells us plainly that to do rightly, IS love. The right emotions simply initiate the right actions. Regarding the wording in 1 cor. 13, the word CHARITY has been replaced with the word "love". This does two things, it negates the true meaning of the word love, and hides the real meaning of the word charity, which is the inward part of man that has been gifted with the new NATURE. A careful reading of 1st. Cor. 13: 4-7 with the wording of charity, reveals the inner Character at work, and not the outward showing, as in verse three, which are acts of love, but without the inner character of holiness as a guide.

 

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● 1Thess 5:14c . . support the weak

That could probably be stretched to mean any number of things; but I
should think it includes care for your church's aged and/or infirm; viz;
people on crutches, people getting around in wheel chairs, people who can
no longer drive a car, people lacking enough health to even leave their
residences and go shopping on their own, people stuck in assisted living:
that sort of thing.
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● 1Thess 5:14d . . Be patient with everyone.

The koinè Greek word for patient is makrothumeo (mak-roth-oo-meh'-o)
which has little to do with getting fed up with people. In James 5:7-8 it
speaks of giving things space to happen in their own good time.

I would say that in this case, makrothumeo speaks of giving people a chance
to either catch on or catch up. For example: we all perfectly understand
what we're saying while those hearing may need to have us restate
ourselves in different words in order to clarify a misunderstanding.
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[Lightskin]

Every time I see the title of this thread I start singing, baby don’t hurt me, no more.

 

[morefaithrequired]

Every time I see the title of this thread I start singing, baby don’t hurt me, no more.

i think of another one. by an artist called Howard Jones
"what is luhuhuhuhuv anyway
does anybody love anybody anyway"

 

[Webers.Home]

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● 1Thess 5:15 . . See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever
follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

Christian conduct isn't a temporary uniform kept in the closet just for
Sunday mornings like the rather odd patrons who wear costumes at Star
Trek conventions.

No, Christian conduct is every-day wear: in the home, on the job, at
school, at the beach, at the mall, at the park, at the beach, in restaurants, in
amusement centers, at the zoo, at the circus, on the internet, et al; in other
words: ever-followed; not just at church on Sunday morning; which makes
ever following that which is good somewhat stressful at first; until it
becomes second nature, like driving a car. Once you've learned the controls,
you don't think about it anymore.
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● 1Tim 5:1a . . When speaking to an older man, appeal to him respectfully
as though he were your own father.

There's probably nothing more humiliating to a parent than to be treated like
dirt by their children-- except maybe to be treated like dirt by a spouse.

Americans have the right to a trial by a jury of their peers. Well, a child is
not a parent's peer; he's not even the parent's equal let alone his peer.
Parents are not children's peers; no, parents are their betters, not their
equals. It's a thoughtless, wicked, insolent dunce who treats their parents
with no more respect than a college beer buddy.

I was in a Sunday school class one morning where a young fellow
substituted for the regular teacher. After practically every sentence during
his lecture, the fellow would pause, tighten his lips, turn down the corners of
his mouth, squint his eyes into narrow slits, and look around the room with a
fierce scowl on his face; and better than half that room was older than he
was. I don't know about the rest of the group, but as a man easily twice his
age; I deeply resented the looks that youngster was giving us.
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[seed_time_harvest]

Hi @Defenderofgrace, I love this section of 1 Corinthians Not only does it tell us why it's so important to be loving as a Christian (v1-3), it also tells us (in a practical sense) what Godly love is supposed to look like, what it is and what it isn't too (as you just noted for us above ).

I also like the fact that it's laid out (to a degree anyway) like an ingredient label on the side of a package of food, with the most important ingredients, and the stuff that it contains the most of (in this case, patience and kindness) written right at the top list.

~Deut

🙂Important to note and Illuminate understanding about the part of your post that I underlined Is love Is fruit of the Spirit and comes from GOD.JESUS the VINE ,we are the members of the body/branches recieving sustenance from the VINE.

When you say christians need to show love can give the Impression of acting like a person cares In appearance but they might not be In TRUTH from the Inside.

love being fruit of the Spirit will come naturally