WHAT IS REAL LOVE?
Sometimes persons who do not understand Correct Biblical Principles, say to others, "you have no love", or they want to know "where is your love?" The New Testament provides for us an exact definition of what Real Love Truly is, however.
And this is Love, that we walk According to His Commandments. II John 6
This verse radically disagrees with what most people (sometimes even people who claim to be Christians) insist Real Love is. Let us continue.
As we have seen from a Previous Page, Real Love (Divine Love) only takes firm root in the hearts of G-ds' Elect, and Obedience to G-ds' Commandments comes forth as the Production of His Grace.
Unbelievers have no Firmly-Rooted Divine Love within them. We know this by what Yeshua (Jesus) said:
I Know you, that you have not the Love of G-d in you. John 5:42
Unbelievers at best have "human love". Sometimes unbelievers can have an influence on the doctrines that a Church teaches. Sometimes unbelievers themselves can be doing the preaching! They are not very interested in being inwardly Obedient to the Commandments (they do want to seem "good" however) and so they may unstead define "love" as "how people feel" about whatever they are focused on.
They lack the firmly-rooted Divine Love that the Holy Spirit places there by True Faith in Yeshua (Jesus). The result is that unbelievers can only really rely on "human love" and "feelings" as their root to carry out their intentions about "love". This "human love" resides within their fallen flesh and although it can be expressed outwardly in such things as love in marriage, love of parents and family, love of children, patriotism or any other sort of object-love, this "human love" remains only "soulish" and draws its' power from the human soul or as the Bible says, "the flesh".[1]
DISCERNING THE DIFFERENCES
It is possible to Discern the differences between Divine Love and "human love" now that you are aware that there are very distinct differences between the two.[2]
The True Way of Divine Love is Spiritually Supernatural. It is beyond the knowledge of our fleshly minds and emotions. As the Scriptures say:
The love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Ephesians 3:19
Unbelievers and carnal men cannot comprehend it. They want everything "explained" and will resort to all sorts of "human reasoning" to try and figure it out. Psychology cannot understand it, nor can any form of mans' carnal thinking. This can drive them to despair and to lash out against it. It does not conform to their "knowledge" of "human love" and it is a foreign thing to them.
As Yeshua said:
If the world hate you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. John 15:18
Mere "human love" will always end-up bearing "bad fruit" identified by unfaithfulness, broken Promises, broken Covenants and Vows. It also will return back to the lusts of the flesh every time, even after Divine Love has been presented. They may have associated themselves with Divine Love and so experienced it, but it has no root in them and they fall away eventually. Divine Love does not offer an ongoing relief to the carnal mans' flesh, and he will seek satisfaction elsewhere sooner or later rather than suffer despair in not being "satisfied". His lifestyle demands it, as the flesh in its insatiability will seek to "break out" to pursue lusts in unfaithfulness when a situation presents itself and they are at their weakest.
They then usually grant themselves "permission" by saying, "we fell in love", "we were in love", "it was love at first sight", "if it feels good do it" or some similar "convenient excuse" which seeks to mollify the conscience so that the flesh can rise up.
"THE LOVE GOSPEL" AND CONFUSING THE TWO
During the 1960's there appeared the "Love Genreration" as it is sometimes known. They were "united" by "peace and love" was expressed by "The Love Gospel". They (they were known as "hippies") used hallucinogenic drugs to "turn on, tune in, and drop out" and "get high on love" and spread this message world-wide. Some of them remained on drugs while attending Churches. Some were also involved in "free love" which more closely resembled Spiritual Anarchy.
"The Love Gospel" which drew a resurgence from that movement, twisted Scripture attempting to surgically-extract "love" from the rest of G-ds' Attributes (which immediately denied the Oneness of G-ds' Attributes) as if it were G-ds' sole Attribute and focus on "love" as "The Real Gospel". "Not having love" was the cry that went up against the Churches. They demanded "no judging" as if it were a crime to do so.
G-ds' Attributes act as "One" and are inseparable from each other. This they found highly offensive. If any Church Discipline was applied to a situation or individual they found it grounds to leave the Church. They vigorously opposed any Church Discipline saying that as long as "everyone loved everybody and didn't judge" then everything would be "peaceful and loving".[3] Through a gross oversimplification of plain Scripture, they rejected all forms of "judging" altogether even though the Scripture clearly says:
if we would judge ourselves we would not be judged. I Corinthians 11:31
Because many of them were on illegal drugs or still in their carnal lusts, they of course actively supported no one "judging" them.
Yeshua did Authorize "judging" however, based on Scripture, when He told the man:
Thou hast Judged rightly. Luke 7:43
Believe it or not, this twisting of Scripture is still around today. Many times those involved in peddling the "Love Gospel" will show a feigned interest in studies of Church or ancient history, saying, "love is all we need, we don't need anything else", or "those were people back then, we know differently today". They always take an incorrect view of Judging and their knowledge of Holy Writ is superficial and incomplete at best or deliberate ignorance at worst.
Sometimes they boast themselves in false gifts to peddle their "new spiritual revelations" based on false teachings.
Remove yourself from such so-called "Bible teachers". If the True Believer does not, they will only find themselves in trouble later on.
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PEOPLE OF G-D MINISTRIES
� Copyright 2002 People of G-d Ministries, Inc. No reproduction or redistribution without Prior Written Consent and Approval of People of G-d.
FOOTNOTES
[1
A Believer may ask, "what is love?" They will say, "Jesus is Love". Then the question continues, "how do I get more love?" they will answer, "by getting more of Jesus". Then continuing, "how do I get more of Jesus?", and they say, "by seeking Jesus". Then "how do I seek Jesus?" and they say "by getting more of Jesus, for Jesus is Love".
This totally leaves
Real Divine Love is actually defined as Obedience to G-ds' Commandments (II John 6). "G-d is Love" or "Jesus is Love" is speaking of One of G-ds' Attributes: Love. It does not define Divine Love in Its Fullness which also does include ALL of G-ds' Attributes as well! Divine Love is defined by II John 6.
For Believers considering Marriage: for someone to merely say they are a Christian and might be "soul mates" or have "soul love" does not necessarily mean that the love comes from Divine Love, nor that that person is Elect. What is actually "human love" could be assumed automatically as being from G-d; or Divine Love, when it isn't at all.
For Believers especially, it is very necessary to distinguish between Divine Love and "human love", because Believers are Commanded to not marry an unbeliever. Because it is of primary importance, couples should extend that one step further and ensure a successful Marriage by basing it on Divine Love and not just the carnal flesh. Marriage is a Holy and Pure Gift and G-ds' Divine Love must be central. This then becomes one main Purpose and Aim of Courtship. Courting couples may many times be mutually attracted by "human love" as a "natural response", but they are to gently direct each other continually toward Divine Love as the True Way.
If the contemplating couple becomes fully immersed in Divine Love and Obedience to His Commandments (which is The Way), that is an excellent indicator of a potential mate; on the other hand, if one of the partners departs continually from the Way of True Divine Love, this could likewise be an adverse indicator of a Covenant-breaker and unfaithfulness. We should not be too critical if desires for "human love" to "return to the old ways" occasionally rises up. As stated before, concentration on The True Way is the Goal and patience is also indicated. There are no substitutes here: Full Focus and repeated encouragement by one or both to return to The Way of Divine Love until it becomes the Central Focus and Application will ensure a lasting Marriage.
Those that have previously experienced "human love" before Salvation may sometimes "miss those old feelings" of the flesh and want to return to them. They want to carry those "old fleshly feelings" into their New Life in Christ and "put new wine into old wineskins". They have not been taught that G-ds' Divine Love is now The Way. This is why it is so important for Believers to understand Divine Love and attach themselves securely to a Ministry that teaches it. Why is that? Because the "old ways" really don't work any more and returning to reliance on mere "human love" simply cannot withstand the pressures of the Spiritual battles the True Believer now faces in his/her Spiritual life. It will collapse at some point because of testing, as any reliance on Humanistic Solutions always does.
[2
Movies and music play a role in this also. Movies that portray "love" and even lust on the screen while the "real world" the personal "love lives" of the actors or actresses are a disaster. Movies are many times designed to bring out the "feelings" of "human love" and can deceive.
Similarly, examples can be seen in the music of Elton Johns' "Can you feel the love" or Boy Georges' "I just want to be loved by you". All the while refusing to recognize Roman Chapter 1. These demonstrate once again various manifestations of carnal "human love" and not Divine Love.
The various "Love Songs" which continue to extoll the "greatness of human love" to the maximum are seemingly heard everywhere. They constantly use such terms as "true love", "honor", "dedication", "hero", "cherishing", etc. They can also use "religious" references such as "my angel", etc. These "heartfelt declarations" are "human love" and should never be confused with True Divine Love. Music conveniently also offers a "back-up plan" for failed "human love". When the "human love" fails, then they offer "Blues songs" as they "sing the blues" with their "broken hearts".
When someones' heart is broken, this can go one of two ways: either Full Repentance, Full Faith and G-d "circumcises the heart" and the Believer follows The Way, or unrepentance and return to the ways of the flesh to "try it again" with someone else hoping for resolution where there is only another roller-coaster ride to temporary fulfillment which still leads to non-resolution and if continued, despair.
This has led to such "big hits" with the lyrics, "Whiskey River take my mind, don't let her memory torture me" and such. This can also lead to some who sing they have "given up on love" entirely. Tina Turner sings, "What's love but a second-hand emotion?". She correctly identifies and criticizes "human love" as being merely emotionalism on the one hand, but on the other hand does not insert Divine Love as the answer or True Divine Love as the Way. Also Johnny Mathis singing, "I'll never fall in love again". Divine Love is exluded and there is no resolution. This leads to depression and despair as all Humanistic Solutions will always do. These are ones who have attempted to focus entirely on "human love" (a secularized form of the "Love Gospel") and have failed. Instead of what they searched for, they found Judgment and perhaps an emotional breakdown. This can lead to Masochism in some.
[3