What does the Bible say about love?

"What does the Bible say about love?"

Answer: The Bible has a great deal to say about love. In fact, the Bible says that “love is of God” and “God is love” (1 John 4:7–8); in other words, love is a fundamental characteristic of who God is. Everything God does is impelled and influenced by His love.

The Bible uses several different words for “love” in the Hebrew and Greek, interchanging them depending on context. Some of these words mean “affectionate love”; others indicate “friendship”; and still others, “erotic, sexual love.” There is also a distinct word for the type of love that God displays. In the Greek, this word is agape, and it refers to a benevolent and charitable love that seeks the best for the loved one.

The Bible gives many examples of love: the caring provision of Boaz for Ruth; the deep friendship of David and Jonathan; the poetic, passionate love of Solomon and the Shulamite; the enduring commitment of Hosea to Gomer; the fatherly love of Paul for Timothy and John for the church; and, of course, the sacrificial, saving love of Christ for the elect.

Agape, the benevolent, selfless love that God shows, is mentioned often in the New Testament, including in the “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13. There, love’s characteristics are listed: love is patient and kind; love doesn’t envy, boast, or dishonor others; love is not proud or self-seeking; love is not easily angered, doesn’t keep a record of wrongs, and doesn’t delight in evil; rather, love rejoices with the truth; love always protects, trusts, hopes, and perseveres; love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4–8). Of the greatest of God’s gifts, faith, hope, and love, “the greatest . . . is love” (verse 13).

The Bible says that God was motivated by love to save the world (John 3:16). God’s love is best seen in the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf (1 John 4:9). And God’s love does not require us to be “worthy” to receive it; His love is truly benevolent and gracious: “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

The Bible says that, since true love is part of God’s nature, God is the source of love. He is the initiator of a loving relationship with us. Any love we have for God is simply a response to His sacrificial love for us: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:10). Our human understanding of love is flawed, weak, and incomplete, but the more we look at Jesus, the better we understand true love.

The Bible says that God’s love for us in Christ has resulted in our being brought into His family: “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1). Just as the father in the parable showed love to his prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32), so our Heavenly Father receives us with joy when we come to Him in faith. He makes us “accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:6, NKJV).

The Bible says that we are to love others the way that God loves us. We are to love the family of God (1 Peter 2:17). We are to love our enemies—that is, we are to actively seek what is best for them (Matthew 5:44). Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loves the church (Ephesians 5:25). As we show benevolent, selfless love, we reflect God’s love to a lost and dying world. “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

The Bible says that our love for God is related to our obedience of Him: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3; cf. John 14:15). We serve God out of love for Him. And God’s love for us enables us to obey Him freely, without the burden of guilt or the fear of punishment.

First John 4:18 says that “perfect love drives out fear” (this is again the word agape). The dismissal of the fear of condemnation is one of the main functions of God’s love. The person without Christ is under judgment and has plenty to fear (John 3:18), but once a person is in Christ, the fear of judgment is gone. Part of understanding the love of God is knowing that God’s judgment fell on Jesus at the cross so we can be spared. Jesus described Himself as the Savior: “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). The very next verse reminds us that the only person who must fear judgment is the one who rejects Jesus Christ.

The Bible says that nothing can separate the believer from the love of God in Christ (Romans 8:38–39). God’s love does not wax and wane; it is not a fickle, emotional sensation. God’s love for sinners is why Christ died on the cross. God’s love for those who trust in Christ is why He holds them in His hand and promises never to let them go (John 10:29).

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February 2017 "On a Mission"

Devotion - January 25, 2017

God Still Speaks

18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the Lord was my stay.

19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.

20 The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me.

21 For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.

23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.

24 Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

25 With the merciful thou wilt shew thyself merciful; with an upright man thou wilt shew thyself upright;

26 With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.

27 For thou wilt save the afflicted people; but wilt bring down high looks.

I don't know about each of you, but I want God to speak to me on a daily basis. As I sit before Him daily with an open Bible and pray for a clean heart.  I am ready to hear Him.  Whether He speaks to me through His word, through Godly people, or through His still, small voice, it is like thunder in my spiritual eyes.

As I read this passage, I find that David wanted the same , and just as God did on Sinai, He spoke to David loudly and demonstrative.  With His thunderous voice heard from his creation, God answered David and delivered him when he seemed to be drowning in the depths of the ocean of death.

God's voice is heard today through His Word.  Open up your Bible and let the Lord speak to you.  God's deliverance is yours through the battles of life.  We must yield to the Holy Spirit daily.  You will never be the same.

Set a time that you can hear from the Lord.  It will be in your favor to sacrifice time to be with the Lord.

Take every opportunity in this New Year!

Beckley Praise Church

250 Elm Street (PO Box 863), Beckley, WV 25802

www.beckleypraisechurch.org

304-252-5120 (Church) 304-573-4009 (Pastor)

January 23, 2017

Dear Friends & Family,

We have been given another opportunity to go, work, share and tell.  On March 22 – April 3, 2017, we will join other men and women within the Appalachian Conference of the International Pentecostal Holiness Church and make our way to South Sudan/Kenya, Africa. 

South Sudan is a harsh environment where the people have endured civil war and drought.  However, their deepest need is Jesus!

This mission project will be to construct a new church building on the HOPE4SUDAN compound in Kapoeta.  The old church building is inadequate and will be used for the school that is now ministering to over 200 children a day.  Along with construction, we will take a medical team who will meet, greet and provide basic medical needs of the people in South Sudan.

We are excited about the impact this opportunity will have in our lives and in other people’s lives through this ministry.  We do, need your help.  Anything you can do to help Pastor Paul Chapman, Stephen Mullens and Kurt Gillispie will be greatly appreciated.

Your giving will make a huge impact on the people in South Sudan and in Kenya Africa.  Please be part of this awesome opportunity, for I know that you too will be blessed.  Thank you and God bless.

In His Service,

Paul, Steve and Kurt

J. Paul Chapman, Pastor

Stephen Mullens and Kurt Gillispie

If you would like to help with this trip monetarily - please contact Pastor Paul.  Thank you!

Devotion - January 24, 2017

Psalm 17King James Version (KJV)

17 Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.

2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence; let thine eyes behold the things that are equal.

3 Thou hast proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.

4 Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer.

5 Hold up my goings in thy paths, that my footsteps slip not.

6 I have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God: incline thine ear unto me, and hear my speech.

7 Shew thy marvellous lovingkindness, O thou that savest by thy right hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise up against them.

8 Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,

9 From the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies, who compass me about.

10 They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.

11 They have now compassed us in our steps: they have set their eyes bowing down to the earth;

12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.

13 Arise, O Lord, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

14 From men which are thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.

15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

We are living in a time that we must pray and trust in the Lord.  When we don't pray what we are saying is that we depend upon ourselves.

In the previous chapter (16), David is declaring that his trust is in God alone and we too should declare by praying that our trust is in the Lord.  Here we find in this chapter (17) David is facing trials and situations that he cannot control, and so he is declaring that his trust is in the Lord.  David was declaring his trust because he need God to protect him from the assaults on life.

We too should pray today.  We must choose prayer.  WE must pray on a daily basis.  When we pray and do not know what to say, pray the Word of the Lord.  Pray Psalm 17.

2014 Annual Raleigh County Camp Meeting, Beckley, WV