LOVE

I woke up early this morning and I remembered that I was dreaming about LOVE. I was specifically dreaming about the medic, Desmond Doss, who is credited with saving more than 70 solders lives, even enemy soldiers', during one of the bloodiest battles of World War II in the Pacific. He did it without carrying any kind of protection for himself. He refused to carry a weapon or take a person's life. When he enlisted into the Army, he told them this and was almost rejected for service. They thought that he wouldn't make a good solder, but they took him anyway. He went through literal hell from his commanders and fellow soldiers, but he never quit/gave up. Click the link and go down to the 'Synopsis' of the movie. The movie, 'Hacksaw Ridge', based on true events. It is well worth seeing if you haven't already. (maybe without children). His whole character was amazing, hard to believe, and is one example of LOVE (AGAPE LOVE). The kind of LOVE that Father God and his son, Yeshua (Jesus) has.

I've been thinking a lot about my life lately. I cannot remember if I have ever loved that deeply. The Bible talks about God's chosen. Jesus said that his disciples were the ones his Father God gave him, specifically chosen. I wonder now, are God's chosen the only ones who have that kind of LOVE? I am not saying that we can't love unless we've been chosen by God. I kind of think our love may not be Agape Love, but some flavor under that.

I remember that on the day of Judgement there are many books that will be opened. But there is one book that stands apart from all the others. It is called the Book of Life, God's chosen. If we could see those who God has chosen, I think we might be quite surprised by those He has picked.

Here is a thought about how to obtain LOVE. Repent, empty self; my will dies. Ask Yeshua (Jesus) in and his will takes over.

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All of a sudden, I am being reminded of a number of old posts:

Monday, August 3, 2020 ---- Love

Sunday, June 24, 2018 ----- Love Thy Enemy

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5/5/2024

Talking about coincidences. This morning at church, our pastor had a sermon on LOVE. His favorite scripture verses on the subject are 1 Corinthians 13; mine too.

1 Corinthians 13

New International Version

13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.

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

8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Judgment Day

Judgment Day

If today were Judgment Day, Yeshua (Jesus) has finished putting a spotlight on your life, and he tells you to go away, he never knew you, how would you feel? How would I feel?

If today were it, Judgment Day, I don’t believe that I would do well. So many things I have done and not done. I think that what I would regret most is missing the opportunities to talk with someone. I will get kind of a inclination to talk with someone. I mull it over in my mind why not to and why I should. If I finally decide to do it, go talk with them, more often than not, it is too late. The person is gone. Whenever we feel the need to meet someone, just do it. Don’t think, just do it. These opportunities go away quickly.

In the book "Celestine Prophecy" it calls these opportunities coincidences. They are important to us and have great meaning. If not at that very moment, then for a later time.

I've repented a number of times but seem to fall back into my same old person. I think, how can God put up with me?  His Son, Yeshua (Jesus) went through unimaginable things so that I could be forgiven. Why can’t I honor him? Why can’t I honor Father God for His plan to save us? Such Love those two have for us…...

We can ask forgiveness today and after seeing that we fail, we can ask forgiveness and try again. One day the disciple Peter asked Yeshua (Jesus), "How many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus tells him, "Not seven times, but seventy times seven." (Matthew 18:21-35)

God is patient with us, but His patience is finite. Some day we will be judged. No one but Father God knows when that will be.

Forgiveness is circular or reciprocal. If we forgive then we are forgiven.

Matthew 6:14-15

New International Version

14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

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Think about what Yeshua (Jesus) went through, for us all, so that we could have forgiveness.

Here are the crucifixion stories in the Bible:

Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, and John 19 

He endured things beyond our comprehension. He did it for all of us.

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If being fearful of God makes you do good works, then be afraid. If doing good works is for rewards at Judgment Day, then that is for your benefit. Doing good works because you LOVE is the ultimate reason. LOVE like Father God and Yeshua (Jesus) LOVE. I think this may be what "The Way" means in the Bible.

John 14:6

New International Version

6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

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John 14:15-16

New International Version

Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—

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4/24/2024

I was looking through some of my old posts and came across 'The faith that justified Abraham'. This is a long read but I feel like it goes very well with this post and the 'Good Works' post.

Compassion and Love

Unity Series: Love Moves Us Into Action

I used to think compassion and love were the same thing. They felt similar—both warm, both tender, both stirred by seeing someone hurting. But lately, as I’ve looked honestly at my own life, I’ve realized something uncomfortable. I can feel compassion… yet stop there. I can ache for someone, but not move toward them. I can care, but not act.

And that’s the difference.

Compassion feels.
Love does.

When Scripture speaks of the Father and of Yeshua (Jesus), compassion is never passive. It always becomes movement, sacrifice, giving, healing, restoring. Divine compassion acts, and that action is what Scripture calls love.

John 3:16 (NIV)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Love gives.

1 John 3:16 (NIV)
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.”

Love lays itself down.

This is the pattern of the Kingdom. This is the unity Yeshua prayed for—a people who don’t merely feel compassion but embody God’s love through action, truth, and sacrifice.

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Children of God: Formed by Love, Purified by Hope

1 John 3 reminds us that the Father has lavished His love on us, calling us His children. That identity isn’t sentimental; it’s transformative. When we hope in Christ, we purify ourselves. When we abide in Him, we stop living in the old patterns of sin. When His seed remains in us, His life reshapes ours.

John draws a sharp line:

• Those who do what is right belong to God.
• Those who refuse to love remain in death.
• Those who hate are aligned with the evil one.
• Those who love have passed from death to life.

Love isn’t optional.
Love is the evidence of new birth.

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Love That Acts, Not Just Speaks

John doesn’t let us hide behind feelings or words:

1 John 3:18 (NIV)
“Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

If we see a brother or sister in need and do nothing, John asks the piercing question:

“How can the love of God be in that person?”

This isn’t condemnation—it’s invitation.

God is greater than our hearts.
He knows our weakness.
He knows our shame.
He knows our desire to love but our struggle to follow through.

And still, He calls us forward.

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The Command That Unifies Us

John brings it all together in one simple, powerful command:

1 John 3:23 (NIV)
“To believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as He commanded us.”

Belief and love.
Faith and action.
Trust and obedience.

This is unity—not just agreement, not just shared doctrine, but shared life, shared love, shared sacrifice.

When we keep His commands, we live in Him and He in us. And we know this by the Spirit He has given us.

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Where This Leaves Us

If compassion is where we stop, we remain unchanged.
If compassion becomes love—real, embodied, sacrificial love—then we begin to look like our Father.

And that is the heart of the Unity Series:
Becoming one with God by becoming one with His love.