{"id":19182,"date":"2022-02-23T19:07:28","date_gmt":"2022-02-23T19:07:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=19182"},"modified":"2024-03-13T16:25:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-13T16:25:52","slug":"love-is-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=19182","title":{"rendered":"Love Is Not"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 1<\/p><p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 14pt;\">[<strong>Note: <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our <strong>Brief Articles 1<\/strong> page.]<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Numerous Biblical words have been wordnapped, hijacked, redefined, and misused (e.g., <em>grace, faith, miracle, elect, foreordained<\/em>). <em>Love <\/em>is another of these much-abused words. The most frequently occurring Greek word for <em>love <\/em>in the New Testament is <em>agape<\/em>\u2014one\u2019s unselfish seeking of the best for its object without regard for the object\u2019s worthiness. This highest form of love is the love God demonstrated to mankind in giving His Son to make the salvation of humankind possible (John 3:16). Perhaps seeing what love is <strong>not<\/strong> will better enable us to understand what it is.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Not mere words: The apostle John noted this fact: \u201cMy Little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but in deed and truth\u201d (1 John 3:18). John does not forbid verbal expressions of love, but he observes that mere words do not prove its existence. The proof of love is in what we do more than in what we say. Paul wrote: \u201cLet love be without hypocrisy\u201d (Rom. 12:9).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Not mere emotion: <\/strong>\u201cAgape\u201d love involves one\u2019s emotions, but it goes beyond mere sentimentality and affection. These are noble feelings that we should cultivate toward others, but until they are expressed in loving deeds, they remain mere feelings or emotions. Love is not feeling and\/or emotion, but the appropriate sincere expression of such. \u201cAgape\u201d love may often exist in the absence of feeling, emotion, or affection.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Not mere lust or sexual fulfillment: <\/strong>The entertainment industry has so corrupted <em>love <\/em>that <em>love <\/em>and <em>sex <\/em>are practically synonyms to the masses. While to \u201cmake love\u201d to one\u2019s companion was an innocent reference to courtship before the \u201csexual revolution\u201d of the 1960s, it now means to engage in sexual intercourse with him\/her. God created us with sexual instincts and desires, the fulfillment of which are honorable in God approved marriages (Heb. 13:4a). However, outside of Scriptural marriage, sexual fulfillment constitutes fornication, whose practitioners God will judge (v. 4b). The very fabric of our nation\u2019s morals and families has been grievously weakened by this polluted misconception of <em>love<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Not license to sin or freedom from law and conditions thereof: <\/strong>The clamor for so-called \u201cunconditional love\u201d in human relationships is very often an appeal for unconditional <strong>approval<\/strong> of sinful behavior in the appellant. This liberal idea has become prevalent in recent years. Parents \u201clove\u201d a child too much to restrain or punish him or express disapproval of his behavior. Preachers and elders \u201clove\u201d their brethren too much to rebuke or correct them. Many folks opine that God \u201cloves\u201d us too much to condemn us or hold us accountable to His law. Loving parents discipline their children (Pro. 13:24), as does a loving God (Heb. 12:6). God\u2019s love does not free us from His law. True, God \u201cunconditionally\u201d loved all mankind so much that He made salvation possible for all through His Son (John 3:16). The same passage declares that God <strong>conditionally<\/strong> extends His \u201csaving\u201d love only to believers in His Son.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\">[<strong>Note: <\/strong>I wrote this article for and it appeared in the <em>Denton Record-Chronicle, <\/em>Denton, TX, May 2, 2008]. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif; font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>Attribution: <\/strong>From <em>thescripturecache.com<\/em>; Dub McClish, owner and administrator<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Views: 1[Note: This MS is available in larger font on our Brief Articles 1 page.] Numerous Biblical words have been wordnapped, hijacked, redefined, and misused (e.g., grace, faith, miracle, elect, foreordained). Love is another of these much-abused words. The most frequently occurring Greek word for&#8230;<\/p>\n<div class=\"easywp-readmore\"><a class=\"read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/?p=19182\">Continue Reading&#8230;<span class=\"easywp-sr-only\">  Love Is Not<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,724,102,740,391,440,348],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-emotions","category-freedom","category-love","category-love-is-not","category-lust","category-sexual-desire","category-unselfishness","wpcat-34-id","wpcat-724-id","wpcat-102-id","wpcat-740-id","wpcat-391-id","wpcat-440-id","wpcat-348-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19182"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23619,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19182\/revisions\/23619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thescripturecache.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}