xjwsforChrist

Because God is love (1 John 4:8).

A Play on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.

4 God is patient, God is kind. He does not envy, he does not boast, he is not proud. 5 He does not dishonor others, he is not self-seeking, he is not easily angered, he keeps no record of wrongs. 6 God does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 He always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Last night I was having a conversation with a very dear and loving sister. And in that conversation we were talking about things that God has allegedly done or not done as stated by the written text or by some who find fault with and/or accuse God. She asked: “Where’s the love in that?” I had a moment of “cognitive resonance.” Meaning? Meaning that in that moment I had a kind of epiphany in that we could easily exchange the word “God” with the word “Love” and perhaps see more readily, more emphatically, the presence of love or its lack in a thing or action.

Did “love” do this? Did “love” do that? Perhaps the answer is that much more obvious when using the word “Love” instead of the word “God.” Just a thought. . . .

--Armand

What an interesting thought, Armand.

Thou shalt have no other loves before me.

I love that, Armand. I've done that with that verse before, also.


Giggling at Ataloa... 'gods' little g, aren't necessarily/always interchangeable with love. (now I have the Nine Inch Nail 'Capital G' tune in my head)


Peace to you both!

tammy

Very interesting Armand....

Loz x

_________________
"This is my son. LISTEN to Him!"

Very powerful and so true my brother Armand!!!

Thank you for sharing this,

Love Justmom

I also had an epiphany like that years ago Armand (IF that's your real name). XD

I use to read 1 John 4:8 like people usually did "God is love" ... then One day I realized something. I realized that I was reading it as "God is loving" ...and that was my understanding of that scripture until the Master spoke and said "Love is God" ...which totally changed my perception. LOVE is God, not Love is Godly. Or God is loving. That is not to say he ISN'T loving, but a more accurate understanding that I heard from the spirit is that LOVE itself is God. The Father. The Most Holy One of Israel. God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and... Christ.

And of course we know what Christ is. John 14:6 ......Truth. So to see LOVE, we must first see TRUTH, then the LOVE shines through. (Also given to my by the Spirit years ago.)

Now understanding what LOVE is...yeah well..... lol Shelby can attest to my struggle there. But I thought I'd give you my understanding, which seems to be the same as you've and some have said.


Me

Excellent excellent voices and AMEN!

Yes I too heard this some time ago. I read " God IS love". And spirit told me, " Love IS God"

And Love produced/ birthed TRUTH =Christ

Thanks
Justmom

Yes I too heard this some time ago. I read " God IS love". And spirit told me, " Love IS God"

And haven't we tasted that it is so?

Loz x

_________________
"This is my son. LISTEN to Him!"

We HAVE, dear Loz (peace to you, dear one... and good morning and peace to you ALL, especially you, dear Armand, and THANK you for posting this topic!).

This is something I have been trying to share for close to two decades now: that you CANNOT have love... WITHOUT truth. Thus, you CANNOT have/see God... without having/seeing the Truth, Christ! We humans always tend to take/see things in light of OUR own lives and understanding, what "counts" as to things important to us as humans. But this is UNIVERSAL: there is NO love... WITHOUT truth. Nor can there be COMPLETE truth... WITHOUT love.

Sure, you can have SOME truth, yet lack love. But that truth usually isn't presented with good in mind - it is usually presented to hurt/cause harm. For instance, when one child wants to hurt another and so says some "ring around the rosy" kind of thing (for those who may not know, that childhood game/song was used by some children of the slums to taunt other children who were afflicted with bubonic plague, which manifested in rose-colored, puss-filled sores on their body called "rosies." As the infection spread, rings would wind around the rosies. Many of these children died, hence, the "ashes, ashes, we all fall down," verse). In such instances what is being said IS true (i.e., the children DID have rosies and probably WOULD die), but the intent is cruel.

The Truth that is Christ... originates from the Love... that is God. And so COMPLETE truth... originates from COMPLETE love.

And that is why, when I say to you dear ones that I CANNOT lie to you... whether as to God or Christ, what is stated/written about them, or anything else... I am telling you the TRUTH. Because LOVE... for Them... for you... for MY loved ones... and for myself... won't allow me to.

I must love you AS I love myself. If I lie to myself, I cannot be loving myself. If I lie to you... I cannot be loving you.

Why? Because lies... originate with the Darkness (that is Death), NOT with the Light (that is Christ). If I lie, whether TO you, about you, to myself, about myself, to God/Christ, or about God/Christ... or any OTHER thing... then I am showing myself to be an "offspring" of the Darkness... not a "child" of God.

It is easier to lie, though, isn't it... to ourselves as well as to others... about ourselves as well as about many other things? But Christ did not promise us a rose garden in this life; rather, he offered a torture pole/tree/stake. Why? To who that it would NOT be easy, necessarily, but even painful at times. Perhaps most times. But it is our CHOICE: to be persecuted WITH him... for trying to follow him, the TRUTH... or not.

Do people always like to HEAR the truth? Of course not. Neither do we. Not always. But that's not the point, is it? We don't always want to take medicine, but... we do. Why? Because our lives can depend on it! Same here: our lives can depend on whether truth is IN us. If Christ, the Truth, truly IS in us... then truth is in us, as well, yes?

You cannot say you love Christ, who IS the Truth... and not BE truthFUL. FULL of (the) Truth... and so full of truth. You are only misleading yourself, perhaps even more than you are misleading others. Because the light and darkness have no sharing. Truth and lies cannot reside together. They are from two different masters. At some point, one will CHOOSE one over the other. And yes, one CAN choose the Darkness, while still PRETENDING to be in the light. For does not the agent of the darkness "keep transforming himself INTO an angel of Light"?

This is why we must not only KNOW our own hearts... but guard them.

IF, however, God... and thus LOVE...RULES... IN you... you will CONQUER the darkness, by means of THEM (Love and Truth) conquering FOR you. And so the time will come when you cannot speak anything BUT truth.

Because, again, the Way TO Love... is THROUGH... Truth. John 14:6

I hope this helps and, again, peace to you ALL!

YOUR servant and a slave of Christ, the Truth,

Shellama

Awesome post but thank you for this reminder especially!
And yes I realize personally I cannot do this without them. What a mess I am!
I love this...LOVE and TRUTH conquering for us!



Thank you my sister
Justmom.

Yes.

This concept was encapsulated as long ago as the fourteenth century by the great mystic Julian of Norwich, whose book "The Revelations of Divine Love" was the first book written in English by a woman. Extracts from her writings are here

http://www.julianofnorwich.org/visions.shtml

The whole book is not a hard read and very rewarding.

Very encouraging share dear Char, thank you!

In her passion and sharing her love for ourLord and CHRIST the only thing I think I might question is I'm sure she might have meant to say, CHRIST in this context instead of cross.

She quoted...
"There were times when I wanted to look away from the Cross, but I dared not. For I knew that while I gazed on the Cross I was safe and sound, and I was not willingly going to imperil my soul."

The importance to keep our gaze and eyes intently on HIM so as to understand the Father. It is Christ
Alive and LIFE giving as a spirit that we must continually look to/at!

Thank you for this
Love justmom

I think she meant Cross, justmom.

Christ died for us on the Cross, and so the Cross is the representation of God's great love for us, for each one of us, such love that he gave his only Son to suffer death on the Cross in that one perfect and sufficient sacrifice for our sins.

Christ is the embodiment of God's great Love, and so the Cross is the culmination of his life and God's great love. Gazing at the Cross is a very well-recognised path by which many have contact with him, a means to meditation and contemplation, a focus for a mind that otherwise might wander. No-one can gaze on the figure of Christ on the Cross without being moved afresh each time at the magnitude of that sacrifice, that all-embracing Love.

Why is God love?

_________________
To fear me is to love me....

Note some statements purported to be made by the apostle Paul:

I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.—1 Corinthians 2:2.

We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles—1 Corinthians 1:23.

For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.—1 Corinthians 2:2.

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.—Galatians 6:14.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrument ... crucifixio

It would seem that Julian of Norwich (in her book) describes her experience with the divine.

In that experience, she states that “while [she] gazed on the Cross [she] was safe and sound.” Would it be correct to say then that if she did not gaze on the Cross she was not safe nor sound? Perhaps this could be just something she “felt”; not the reality of what was for her.

How does one separate the Cross from the Christ or the Christ from the Cross? Should one even try? Is it even necessary? And perhaps even more important, should it even be attempted. But even it all of these questions are answered in the affirmative, Why?

Some translations of the Bible state that Christ died on a “Cross.” It was the instrument the Romans used to execute him. Was the Cross a tree? Was it a stake? Was it a pole? Was it a piece of timber? Whatever it was IN REALITY is irrelevant inasmuch as he was executed on it/gave his life on it. If people want to call it a “cross”—okay, so what? If people want to call it a “stake”—okay, so what? If people want to call it a “pole”—okay, so what? The important point was that whatever it was in reality and in truth, it was used as the murder instrument.

I think to say “cross” IS to say Christ. I think to say “Christ” IS to say “cross,” or “stake,” or “pole,” etc. To say Christ was “crucified,” is to say Christ was “impaled,” is to say Christ was “hanged upon a tree,” etc. It is we/us who are playing with words. We’re missing the point—Christ died for us!

One, however, does not need to “look upon” a physical representation of the “cross”—a crucifix—so to speak, so as to think upon or remember Christ and what he did. Although many have done so, and many continue to do so. But that is because those who do so are relying not upon that which is unseen—the reality. These apparently need something physical to see toward rather than to the invisible though real.

While Chariklo (correct if I am mistaken) states that

“the Cross is the culmination of his life and God's great love. Gazing at the Cross is a very well-recognised path by which many have contact with him, a means to meditation and contemplation, a focus for a mind that otherwise might wander. No-one can gaze on the figure of Christ on the Cross without being moved afresh each time at the magnitude of that sacrifice, that all-embracing Love,”

we have to be careful that we do not “expose him (the Christ) to public shame” or mockery. (Hebrews 6:6)

--Armand