Love

[Saxon]

Being Valentines day... well, night.... I thought I would share something that as a Christian I feel the Lord has been impressing upon me lately.... Love!

Love Is the correct response to just about every situation we find ourselves in and although hard to do in some cases is still the right response... I feel that should/can we respond with love, we can not be trapped... by our hatred and our bitterness which can so often lead us to many of lifes deadfalls

Pennies for them everyone....

[proverbs]

Love is a great way to respond to people. There is a big difference to being "in love" with someone, like your spouse, but you can love someone and still not agree with what they do.

[tikbor]

Willow Park Church...Loving People & Following Jesus; pretty straightforward.

[Saxon]

Straightforward enough but how many even Christians actually practice it?... say in traffic when they are cut off....or when someone runs into their cars?.... when someone slams them for their beliefs? .... I know as a Christian myself I often struggle with this... when my kids tell me flat out lies about things and do things behind my back I find it a trial to respond with love.... when I argue with my wife and I know in my heart I am right or even when I find out I'm wrong sometimes I fail miserably at responding with love....when life is hard and there are those out there who seem to want to add more weight to the load I find it hard and I know others who do too... But when you stop to think about it, if we can in these situations respond with love and understanding we can do a whole lot more than just end the bad situation

[proverbs]

You make some good points Saxon, but I think that sometimes you need to respond with grace not love. The person cutting you off, grace, your child lieing, love. Disagreeing with your wife, we are wrong even when we are right, not really LOL. I know that when I was young I was afraid of the punishment so a lie was better, in my view. As time went on I found that the lie was a worse punishment then the truth in the first place. My parents helped me learn this as well as my peers. It is a troubling time and I still fail to be the person God has designed me to be. So most often I take a breath, ask myself what I was about to say sounds like it will slow the tempers or raise them and say a short paryer that God will give me the words to say.

[Saxon]

I think you need to love first to respond with true grace as to me true grace is born of a genuine feeling of compassion and love for the person you are demonstrating it to ... I suppose respect has a place too...

My parents always instilled in me that to lie was a worse punishment too...That is a hard one to learn... we all fall short in some way or another... I know I most deffinately do

[tikbor]

Last weekend the message at WPC was forgiveness and might as well have been tailor made for me. I have been struggling with something for a while but one thing the pastor did note was that forgiveness is not to say that the 'offender' is not to be held accountable, which was an issue with me (and makes me feel a whole lot better about my situation). I have forgiven the people who've 'offended' me but still hope to see things change for the future, though I still have to remind myself that although I don't particularly want to be friends with these people, I do hope for resolution for them and that they will just be happy and get on with life, in a good way.

I suppose Proverbs is correct, it's grace, not love necessarily, that'll get you through. But showing grace goes hand in hand with showing Christ's love, I think, and that's where the connection is.

[bdbnkr]

Scripture is pretty clear that we are to LOVE our neighbor, LOVE our enemy. Love is a choice and grace is a manifestation of that love.

I think that we focus to much on the emotional aspect of love... that emotion is merely another manifestation of choosing to love. God chooses to love us. We can choose to love each other. When we do make that choice the results are nothing short of amazing.

My favorite line in the whole bible occurs after Paul asks three times for God to remove his "thorn". God answers Paul,"My Grace is sufficient for you". He gives us His Grace because he loves us. He doesn't offer up His love to only those who are in His Grace. It is offered freely to everyone because he loves us. Only one thing can keep a person from loving... his or her choice not to...

[Saxon]

grace is a manifestation of that love.

Thats it, Grace without love is tolerance and even those we hate we can sometimes tolerate

[Amor vincit omnia]

You make some good points Saxon, but I think that sometimes you need to respond with grace not love. The person cutting you off, grace, your child lieing, love.

The Greeks had three words for love:

Eros: A sexual or physical "touching" love.

Philia: Friendship love. Openness with each other, companionship, sense of belonging, sense of comfort.

Agape: Unconditional love. A love that is based on the other person. A sense of self-sacrifice. This is a love of choice (i.e., I want to make you happy).

In order to make the world a better place (one person can make a difference), you need to live your life by loving everyone. Agape love - unconditional love for your fellow man. You may not understand why they do what they do. You don't have to agree with what they are doing. You don't have to let them in your life. But you can still love them and feel compassion for them.

[Amor vincit omnia]

Last weekend the message at WPC was forgiveness and might as well have been tailor made for me. I have been struggling with something for a while but one thing the pastor did note was that forgiveness is not to say that the 'offender' is not to be held accountable, which was an issue with me (and makes me feel a whole lot better about my situation).

Doug Cameron runs a weekend seminar in Kelowna called The EPPICA Journey. One of the most powerful concepts taught is about forgiveness. That it is not about the other person. Forgiveness is all about you. The other person probably doesn't give a hoot whether or not you forgive them. Holding a grudge against someone only hurts you - emotionally and physically. EPPICA teaches you how to let it go. There are also strong messages about love too.

You can google EPPICA Journey to learn more about it. It usually runs every few months.

[Tumult]

Love Is the correct response to just about every situation we find ourselves in and although hard to do in some cases is still the right response... I feel that should/can we respond with love, we can not be trapped... by our hatred and our bitterness which can so often lead us to many of lifes deadfalls

Pennies for them everyone....

Higher Learning

What is higher than the heavens?
The high Frequency of Love.
Love & Consciousness form the higher frequency
This frequency is the missing elements (dimensions) of
(quantum) science and religion.

The roots of today’s World views
stem from our viewing of the Earth
(the physical, material, natural world, elements (dimensions) & science)
and the heavens
(our galaxy perceived through the spiritual world of (love)consciousness & perspective).

The world(view) is both material (the earth)
and spiritual (consciousness & perspective)

Those who sought to control the whole world failed.

Those who sought to control the material world (the earth) failed
Their failure is the (material, physical, scientific) systems of today

While the discovery that we cannot defeat the earth
and still have any victory left to claim begins to emerge
the physical (material) war persists
and we claim the spoils of their war
against the earth.

Those who sought to control the spiritual world
(consciousness & perspective)
have also failed.
Their failure is the (religious, philosophical, ideological) systems of today

While the discovery that we cannot defeat consciousness & perspective
and still have any victory left to claim begins to emerge
this war persists as well.
They claim the spoils (our souls, our minds) of their war
against consciousness & perspective.

(Love) Peace & Harmony are the result of operating at a higher frequency
This is the goal of all forms of enlightenment, to achieve a higher frequency both personally and in an outward form of expression.

The wars against the earth and our conscious perspective (soul)
Have exacted a heavy toll
To find the Love, Peace & Harmony
We must become the (missing) higher frequency of love & consciousness to achieve a complete world view
(marriage of material & spiritual worlds)


Peace
Tumult