LOVE, THE OPPOSITE OF SELFISHNESS
LOVE, THE OPPOSITE OF SELFISHNESS by: Pastor Raphael Giglio
As the Valentine’s Day flowers begin to fade, the cards and love notes sink underneath stacks of bills and junk mail, and the mushy “love posts” on our social media feeds get swallowed back up by the usual political rants and selfie madness, we have to ask ourselves “what do we really believe about Love?”
Love is probably one of the most overused and misunderstood words in the English language. It’s a beautiful word, with many common applications, but the essence of true love is often lost due to the word’s familiarity. We can use the word “love” to describe our feelings about anything we like. We can say we love chocolate cake in one breath and tell our children we love them in the next.
When we try to define love, we usually come across the usual descriptions; · an intense feeling of deep affection. · a great interest and pleasure in something. · sentiment of deep romantic or sexual attachment These are good functional definitions and can apply to most situations, but what about true love? What could describe the sense of deep devotional love and selfless commitment that you have for someone you would do anything for, even sacrifice your own interests, possessions or life for without hesitation. The unwavering willingness to lay your life down for a child, parent, spouse or even friend is more than what could be described simply as; an intense feeling, great interest, or some kind of sentiment. It is best described as true love, real love, divine love or what the Bible calls agape (sacrificial love).
The Bible is not short on defining and declaring the true meaning of love, so it’s worth looking at what it has to say, considering that the one who inspired every word in the Bible (God) is himself the embodiment of Love. (1 John 4:8 “God is love.”). Paul describes agape love in his famous “Love Chapter” using a list of what love “is” and what love “is not”.
In 1st Corinthians 13 he writes: • Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. • It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. • Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. • It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.
This is a beautiful description of selfless, others-oriented love, but seems so different than the me-centered love we often encounter in our world. So often the message we get in media, songs, and even some of the most romantic love notes is; “I love you because of how YOU make ME feel”. This message, as well-intended as it might be, is actually the opposite of the love Jesus taught about.
In John 15 Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” This is the love He loves us with, and tells us to love others with as well. To do this we need to be God-inspired and others-oriented, not selfish or self-seeking. That’s why when I’m asked to define love, I often respond with a definition of what it “is not”, to allow the truth about what it “is” to be easily understood. Love, (in its truest form), is “the opposite of selfishness”.
Time and Purpose – Pastor Raphael
The passing of time is one of the most mysterious sensations we experience. Have you ever said or felt: “I can’t believe so many years have passed since … ” or “It seems like only yesterday when … ?”
It should feel ordinary and natural that time passes as it does because we’ve been on the same time clock our whole lives. Certain events and experiences, however, surprise us when significant amounts of time have passed.
As I write the date “2018,” just the appearance of the numbers looks daunting. Then when we consider that next year’s New Year’s Eve celebration will be welcoming in the third decade of the century, “The ’20s,” it’s crazy!
Watching the Winter Olympics with our 10-year-old twins is one of the reminders of how quickly time passes. They are now intelligent young people who have been waiting for the games to begin and are intrigued by every event.
Last time, however, it was all new to them, and we had to explain it in language they could understand. The time before that they were babies, and the next time they’ll be teenagers.
These types of markers are reminders that we are temporal, and the passing of time is constant and inevitable. So why is that so hard to fathom and accept?
Here’s why: “We were made for eternity.” Not our bodies, of course, but our “hearts,” the spiritual essence of who we are. Solomon the Wise tells us in Ecclesiastes 3:11: “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart.”
Since God set eternity in our hearts, things that are temporal seem unusual or peculiar and sometimes hard with which to get comfortable. Ultimately, God desires for us to spend eternity with Him, but here in this life, we live under the “Tyranny of Chronology.”
The good news is that this is not a mistake. God has intentionally given us a limited amount of time to achieve a designated number of purposes. How do we know this? We look again to Solomon: “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
“A time for every purpose” means that each of the dots in the timeline of our lives has a specific purpose to be fulfilled. It makes it exciting to live out our days knowing that for each moment we live, God has plans for us to fulfill and purposes for us to achieve.
So, although I am still a bit uncomfortable with the rapid passing of time from year to year and decade to decade, I am also excited to discover God’s purposes for those times as each day begins.
My hope is to fulfill each one of them the best I can and to enjoy every passing moment along the way.
