What is Love? (Understanding True Love, Lust, Passion and Infatuations) – 4

 

True love is the greatest seed and gift to humankind. If only we could utilize this virtue with wisdom, unfeigned emotion and understanding, the world would be a great place to live. True love is like a robe; it binds people together.

It takes the robe of true love to connect God’s creations, such as animals, to humankind. True love is like a missile; it explodes every atom of hatred, pain, and confusion in a jurisdiction when released in the right season.

As a friend said, “Love is the oldest religion in the world.” Ruminating over those words, I found out that love is one of the greatest needs of humankind. We desire love in our daily vicissitudes of life.

Domestic animals such as dogs, cats, hens, goats and sheep respond to true love. I mean, when we feed and care for these animals, they feel loved. True love is one of the best antidotes to psychiatric and psychological disorders.

You don’t need medicines to cure certain diseases if you have true love within. People expressing true love towards you is enough to break and heal mental, social, physical and spiritual damages in your life.

My understanding of true love is simple. If you can discern the needs and wants of a living being and provide practical solutions to the creature, you are expressing true love. Also, note that any love that contradicts the Word of God is sinful.

For example, when someone tells you to engage in an ungodly act to prove your love, alert the person that you express your love on the premises of God’s Word (Holy Scriptures). The fact that I love you does not mean I should encourage you in your sinful activities. As the Holy Scriptures declare,

 

As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Revelation 3:19 KJV

Christ Jesus revealed to Apostle John that He rebukes and trains those He loves. Like parents, teachers, guardians and leaders, they rebuke their children and followers when they walk in disobedience.

A child or a rebellious person may hate or dislike the leader’s rebuke and training because he doesn’t understand that the rebuke and training is a form of true love. Be glad when a minister of the gospel rebukes you when you act against the Word of God.  

When an individual rebuke you, such a person is expressing love towards you. It is like a child playing with a blade. The child does not know that the blade might hurt him. God knows the future, so he warns his children through the Word, ministers of the gospel, through dreams and visions, friends, family, and several mediums.

See a person as a friend when he warns you about some decisions you make outside God’s Word. Always see the person expressing love towards you through the rebuke. A man in his right senses loves to be cherished and praised.

No one wants to be rebuked because it creates a red flag of hatred and hostility. Like a little tree, you can straighten it. You are like that little tree; if you don’t allow others to rebuke or train you in the ways of God, you become wayward (a threat to yourself and society).

When a tree becomes mature, you cannot straighten it. If you try to straighten a mature tree, it will break. Have you realized that mature people (mature trees) find it difficult to repent?

Children (little trees) do not find it difficult to repent because their right, left, and subconscious brain (root) has not fully developed. You will grow up with a hardened heart if you don’t accept rebuke (love) at your youthful or young age.

Most often, it takes the intervention of God for older people to repent. Sometimes God uses life experiences to rebuke and train old and hardened people. In such cases, God is expressing love towards these vessels.

Anyone who watches and encourages you in your sinful state is your enemy in disguise. We are moral beings susceptible to flaws and sins. If you hate rebuke, which is another form of love, you cannot grow to become a responsible person.

I often hear from people that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. It takes a little dog to learn new tricks. Child of God, when you pass through unfavorable life experiences, note that God is showing you love.

Sometimes rebukes make us uncomfortable, but we learn to accept them with wisdom and understanding. When you receive rebuke and intense training from others, you are acting in wisdom and understanding.

How do you grow to become a responsible person in life if you don’t pass through a series of rebuke and training? As Christ Jesus declared to Apostle John, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.”

Most children from successful homes become drug addicts and irresponsible people in life because they did not receive true love (rebuke and godly training). Their parents or guardians pampered them with false love to the extent that they couldn’t grow in their mental faculty.

Most often, when their parent or guardians die, they are unable to make important decisions. Repenting and accepting Christ Jesus as your Saviour and Lord of your life opens the portal for you to receive rebuke and training (love) from Holy Scriptures, Holy Spirit, the church and his servants.

On the other side, too much rebuke can destroy the image of an individual. Rebuke must walk with godly training enshrined in the Word (Holy Scriptures). Rebuking someone for no apparent and tangible reason is hatred.

If you have no Word (Holy Scriptures) to defend your rebuke and training, the council of the celestial city will mark you as an abuser on judgement day. After rebuking an individual, teach the person the right way.

Rebuking someone does not mean you hail insults and bad words to destroy and kill his self-image. Such rebukes are not from the Holy Spirit. The rebuke (love) of the Holy Spirit leads to repentance.

Anyone who loves you will rebuke you according to the standards of the Word (Holy Scriptures). I gave you this introduction to help you understand that rebuke and godly training is true love.

Mark anyone that rebukes and trains you in the ways of God as a lover. Mark anyone who encourages and praise you in your sinful state as an enemy. In this article, I will use David and Jonathan (Saul’s son) to help you understand true love.

 

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.

And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father's house.

Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.

And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle.

1 Samuel 18:1-4 KJV

After David (son of Jesse) defeated the Philistine champion (Goliath), King Saul honoured him. Jonathan, one of King Saul’s sons, exhibited true love towards David. I want to share this love with you because there are numerous lessons in that encounter.

First, the Holy Scriptures declare that Jonathan’s soul (emotion, desire, and willpower) joined with David’s soul. This means there was a godly soul tie.

The emotions of Jonathan and the feelings of David became one. True love involves our soul. True love combines our emotions, desires, willpower and intellect. If you love someone and have no feelings and desire for that individual, it isn’t true love.

Like Saul’s son (Jonathan), he loved David to the extent that David’s desire became his desire. David’s pain became his pain.  David’s joy became his joy. David’s peace became his peace. David’s philosophy became his philosophy.

Imagine the love Jonathan had for David. David and Jonathan were not gay partners as some people think. Child of God, if you love someone, you will care about the person. You will think about the person if you truly love her.

You will be interested in the affair of the person. Your love for that person becomes a burden to you because you have established a soulish connection. Jonathan loved David to the extent that he made a covenant with him.

Covenants are words and promise people make to each other. For example, God made a covenant with Adam, Abraham, Noah, Israel, David, His son (Crist Jesus) and several people in the Holy Scriptures.

I have watched movies and heard people making a covenant with blood and evil spirits on the media. Do not engage in such covenants because the side effect is deadly. In many marriage ceremonies, the husband and the wife make a covenant because of true love.

If you truly love someone, you will be tempted to make a covenant with that person. I mean covenants based on the Word of God. In Christian weddings, the bride and bridegroom make a covenant at the altar to express their love.

These days, people rarely make a covenant in marriages. One secret to help you detect true love in marriage and relationships is that the partner does not struggle to make a covenant with you when you bring up the idea.

The unstoppable force of love will compel an individual baptized in the ocean of true love to make a covenant because covenants tighten relationships. I remember a movie I watched a long time ago called Romeo and Juliet (1996).

These two youthful individuals were in love, but their families disagreed. In the movie, a minister of God gave Juliet a potion to drink at a specific time to make her sleep for some specified hours.

The minister of God thought he was helping Romeo and Juliet establish a relationship, but it didn’t work as he planned. Unlucky for Romeo, he thought Juliet had died from the portion. Romeo committed suicide by drinking poison as he cried on the sleeping bed of Juliet.

Within a few seconds, Juliet rose from the bed as promised by the minister of God. Juliet recognizing what Romeo has done, shot herself. Both of them died on the same bed. I felt touched and moved by their love but disagreed with their suicide.

I could not find words to express their love because their "love" was so deep! I think I couldn’t narrate the movie accurately. Maybe you can watch the film but pray for grace because some scenes contradict the kingdom constitution (Holy Scriptures).

Now, why did I summarize or narrate this movie (Romeo and Juliet 1996)? I described a part of this movie to you because it tells us of the power of love. Romeo and Juliet loved each other to the extent of embracing death.

Their love (passion) had no fear of death. I remember another love movie I watched a long time ago called Titanic (1997). After watching the movie, I became so emotional that I felt like love is a force we can sense, hold, see and hear.

Like Jonathan and David, he gave his sword, robe, garments and bow to David because of true love. If you love someone, you don’t mind giving that person your most treasurable asset. True love will compel you to give out money, car, house, business, and any valuable tangible asset to strangers.

True love overrules the logic of humankind. Think through, what can make a wise warrior (son of a king Saul) strip himself of his robe, garments, sword, bow and girdle to a man (David) who does not come from his royal family or a man he knows from nowhere.

Jonathan saw David as part of the royal family with his spiritual eyes and spectacles of true love. Child of God, true love does not search for the family, tribe, and religion you belong to. If you truly love someone, you eliminate religion, tribalism, and colour. 

If Jonathan can express such love towards David, we can also express greater love because the manufacturer of love (Holy Spirit) lives in us. I remember when I was a teacher in a Junior High School within koforidua, I developed a great love for a Muslim student to the extent when someone gave me a gift; I gave it to that student. 

He performed several duties for me in class.  Although there were many Christian believers in the classroom, he was the one I loved the most despite his religious beliefs (Islam). When I was at university, I had several friends who were Muslims.

We expressed joy and shared ideas on campus. One Muslim friend I remember visited me in my apartment while on the campus, of which none of my Christian friends knew my location. I question any Christian believer who does not show true love.

True love is one of the main identification marks of a born-again Christian believer. If you cannot express true love towards others, the Holy Spirit does not influence your life (See 1 John 4:20). Most often, we identify Africans by their complexion.

By their attire, we identify the military, lawyers, doctors, kings, queens, and religious leaders. In God’s kingdom, we identify Christian believers with the seal of true love (See John 13:35). Know these truths.

• If you cannot show compassion for others, you have no love, or the seed of love within is weak.
• If you cannot show mercy, you have no love or the seed of love within is weak.
• If you cannot express your emotion for the weak, you have no love or the seed of love within is weak.
• If you cannot feel the pain of others, you have no love or the seed of love within is weak.
• If you cannot sympathize with the poor and vulnerable, you have no love or the seed of love within is weak.

Revive the seed of love by Spirit-led fasting, prayers, feeding on God’s Word, and spiritual songs (worship). Associate with people that express sympathy for the vulnerable in society. Your association with them will build the seed of love within.

Occasionally visit children and interact with them; it will build the seed of love within. I have learnt that serial killers and unmerciful criminals have no seed of love in them. They don’t show remorse or repentance for their evil deeds because the seed of love within is dead.

This is one reason serial killers and unmerciful criminals kill human beings, animals and destroy assets. When they are harming people, assets, and animals, they don’t feel the victim’s pain. Be careful with people who show no sign of sympathy for human beings and animals.

Such people have no seed of love in them. They can commit heinous crimes anytime and anywhere without fear because true love has no place in them. Let’s continue with the lessons in the Holy Scriptures.

 

And Saul spake to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David.

But Jonathan Saul's son delighted much in David: and Jonathan told David, saying, Saul my father seeketh to kill thee: now therefore, I pray thee, take heed to thyself until the morning, and abide in a secret place, and hide thyself:

And I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where thou art, and I will commune with my father of thee; and what I see, that I will tell thee.

1 Samuel 19:1-3 KJV

Saul became jealous of David’s success. Most often, some leaders become jealous and fearful when their followers become successful. Like King Saul, he planned to kill David, but Jonathan hinted to David about his father’s plan.

Imagine a son exposing the wicked act of his father. Child of God, do not condone evil activities because it provokes the anger of God. The person can be your neighbour (family), leader or an important person you admire.

If Jonathan exposed the wicked act of his father to David, we must do the same to evil people around us. Disagree with wicked people because condoning their evil acts bring you under their curse.

Out of love, Jonathan exposed the devious act of his father. Jonathan knew his father hated David, so he told David to hide. Jonathan assured David that he would talk to his father and give him the report.

In this case, Jonathan acted as a spy for David because of  true love. If you truly love someone, you will save that individual from spiritual death, physical death and eternal death. Maybe in your workplace, church, house and school, you heard some people conspiring against someone.

As a child of God, expose their evil plans to save the innocent person. Exposing wicked people is an act of true love. Like Paul’s sister’s son, he exposed the conspiracy of the Jews because he loved Paul (See Acts 23:12-16).  

If the seed of Christ Jesus (true love) abides in you, you will preach the gospel to the unbelievers and intercede for the lost souls. You will encourage the brethren if you have the seed of Christ Jesus (love) in you. Let’s see how Jonathan saved David.

 

And Jonathan spake good of David unto Saul his father, and said unto him, Let not the king sin against his servant, against David; because he hath not sinned against thee, and because his works have been to thee-ward very good:

For he did put his life in his hand, and slew the Philistine, and the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel: thou sawest it, and didst rejoice: wherefore then wilt thou sin against innocent blood, to slay David without a cause?

And Saul hearkened unto the voice of Jonathan: and Saul sware, As the LORD liveth, he shall not be slain.

And Jonathan called David, and Jonathan shewed him all those things. And Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as in times past.

1 Samuel 19:4-7 KJV

Jonathan reminded his father of David’s good deed and alerted him that he was about to sin by murdering an innocent man. It takes the seed of true love to intercede for someone you can destroy.

The person may not see your love. Help the person behind closed doors because true love covers the nakedness and life of the innocent. God will reward you if you save an innocent person behind closed doors.

Some people only love and express their good deeds in public so they can receive praises from men. Doing that isn’t true love. You will have no reward before God if you want to prove to others that you are showing love. Know these truths.

• True love is silent.
• True love works from the deepest part of the heart.
• True love has no wicked motives.
• True love expects no thanks because the rewards come from God.

Most often, evil people find it difficult to understand and express true love because they are dead to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. We don’t express true love to receive honour and praises from men. We express true love because it is a requirement in the constitution (Holy Scriptures).

You will not struggle to use your connections and authority to save someone from death, pain and destruction if you have the seed of true love in you. Like Jonathan, he could have joined with his father to kill David, but he saved David because of true love.

You will not agree with evil people within a group if you have the love of Christ Jesus in you. It doesn’t matter if they are not your family members, co-workers, church members or classmates. The love of Christ in you will constrain you to help others irrespective of the relationship. 

Some people may pay you evil for your true love. Don’t give up because vengeance belongs to God. Some people may call you a fool because you express true love; continue with the good works because God will never forget your labor of love.

You are sowing eternal seeds in the celestial city by your act of love. You are creating a fountain of blessings for yourself and your lineage living on earth because of your love for the church. Become a worker in the church and God will reward your labor of love.

Don’t allow the devil to stop you from expressing true love because it creates a strong presence of the Holy Spirit within your jurisdiction. Know these truths.

• True love overrules the ungodly agreement of family members.
• Wicked people are blind to true love.
• Professing Christian believers and unbelievers cannot express true love.
• True love overrules the ungodly agenda and agreement of the workers in your circle.
• True love dismantles any authority that disagrees with the kingdom constitution (Holy Scriptures) within your jurisdiction.
• True love will save you from unknown calamities, enemies, and curses.
• True love will open the portal for you to encounter the Lord.
• True love builds your spiritual gifts and opens the door for the holy divine forces to commune with you.
• True love makes you see the vulnerability of others.
• True love makes you see the world differently.
• True love empowers you to have sympathy for the hardened sinners.
• True love is a divine key that opens the gate for you to see the spiritual state of the unbelievers and unsaved souls.
• True love builds your spirit and sharpens your soul to connect with the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

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