Quote:
Originally Posted by Igzy
For me the answer, if there is one, has been to try to do everything out of love. Love means seeking the genuine good of others even if doing so requires sacrifice on our part. When considering these issues the Bible isn't clear about and even in attempting to apply the ones it is clear about, I am learning to ask myself "Is love my motive?" and to not be satisfied until the answer is yes.
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First, not dismissing the rest of your post. Just concentrating here.
I agree with you. But when I hear the word "love" spoken in terms of the errant ones of society, it is typically associated with the word "tough" or is immediately followed by "of a father disciplining his child."
I agree with your definitions. But there appear to be a lot that don't. And reading the Bible doesn't seem to be setting them straight. When we have marches and counter-marches to speak out against "gay rights" or gay marriage, it is so often the very thing that chases love from the scene. I have no special concern for this particular issue other than to say that it is a perfect example of how we aren't really reading the Bible, and if we (globally, not meaning you or me necessarily) think that the Spirit is leading us in that manner, then we have a problem with understanding the leading of the Spirit.
I don't think it really matters if we do or don't have some kind of leading related to pre or post tribulation rapture (or even a propensity toward something called rapture). But it really matters how we live. And we are looking for feelings to lead us. And if we are predisposed to think of things in certain ways, there is at least one part of us that will feel "good" about things that are not really righteous.
I know that I just defined a problem since I have stated that too many can't figure it out from the Bible and at the same time it is potentially questionable whether what we think as the Spirit's leading really is. What I have found is that allowing myself to be challenged in terms of what I currently think is the "right" way pays off. Not just to follow the latest trend in misinformation. But to honestly consider alternate ways of thinking without either dumping my old ways or allowing them to dismiss the new thought out of hand.
I now find myself believing that one of the more important things about the Christian life is "doing" in this life rather than "gaining" in the next. Not denying that there is something to gain. But realizing that the gain comes because of what happens in this life.
And it has me in a pickle because what I now think is very important is not yet fully part of what I practice. So my belief is only partial. It is head knowledge without practice. Orthodoxy without orthopraxy.
But you are right. If I can properly assess love, then I can use that as a yardstick for most of my living. Was that action (on the road, at home, in the store, etc.) loving? Better than WWJD. Since he is God and has a right to judgment, he might do something that I was not given the authority for. I have been given a charge. And you are right to distill it down to love.
Jesus did.