tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post8270980982823268613..comments2023-10-03T06:25:41.357-05:00Comments on Grace Roots Blog: "Love" in 1 Corinthians 13 (Part 1)Joel Bruesekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10395847887953875757noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-51194725730771274682008-07-23T18:51:00.000-05:002008-07-23T18:51:00.000-05:00Bino,That is so true. I was just listening to a P...Bino,<BR/><BR/>That is so true. I was just listening to a PTP podcast in which Bob Christopher was talking about how we were created by God to love Him and to love others, but yet it was an impossible thing for us to do. So He took sin away, nailed the handwriting of requirements on the cross, and put His very life in us. (You know the story). :) Now we are free to love (not required to love), and as you say, if we don't first know God's love it's still going to be impossible for us to show love.Joel Bruesekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10395847887953875757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-9353055726439861162008-07-23T12:40:00.000-05:002008-07-23T12:40:00.000-05:00One of the verses which changed my life was 'while...One of the verses which changed my life was 'while we were yet sinners God loved us'. I have heard people saying they looooove god, they stand for God and that kind of stuff. But I couldn't love God until I understood His love for me. I had no ability to love him. Even though I could, that wouldn't last longer either. So I don't know how people can just love god without understanding His love for us - which is understood in the finality of cross and total forgiveness and acceptance in Christ.<BR/>I have heard Bob George interprets 1 Corinthians 13 the same way you just did that it describes the way God loves us, more than how we 'should' love each other.Bino M.https://www.blogger.com/profile/02303467552834533436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-28071919390394413312008-07-22T21:05:00.000-05:002008-07-22T21:05:00.000-05:00LS,Thanks for the care and concern about the back ...LS,<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the care and concern about the back problems. It's good to have people to relate to. :) I'm finally feeling better this afternoon, and hopefully on the mend.<BR/><BR/>I think it's true... self-help checklists don't do us a bit of good in the long run. We may (or may not) improve behavior, but <I>anybody</I> can do that, with or without the life of Christ. Our hope, and help, comes from knowing God intimately.<BR/><BR/>Tracy,<BR/><BR/>I'll be over there to check out your blog post soon. It's cool when things line up like this. :)<BR/><BR/>Katherine,<BR/><BR/>I'm looking forward to sharing some of the things I've learned regarding the descriptions of God/agape in 1 Cor 13. Sometimes it blows me away.<BR/><BR/>Wow, what a story. I think you mentioned on Darin's blog that the church you left was a Word of Faith church. The church we attended from 1996 to 1999 had <I>formerly</I> been a Word of Faith church (before we began attending), and we were very, very blessed to have a pastor (the same pastor I mentioned in this blog post) who had come out of all that and who was very passionate about preaching God's love and grace, and he did a wonderful job of contrasting it with his former WOF life. As I listened to him (and I still go back and listen to the tapes), I could see that there was a very skewed view of faith, and indeed it was made into a work, when it was simply never meant to be that way!<BR/><BR/>He shared some stories from his past that make you very sad, or very angry! The bondage that some people will put others under. Man.<BR/><BR/>"<I>Love is more important than faith</I>."<BR/><BR/>Wow, what a revelation to have received, especially in light of that constant and skewed emphasis on faith, faith, faith!Joel Bruesekehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10395847887953875757noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-28138544743509284142008-07-22T13:33:00.000-05:002008-07-22T13:33:00.000-05:00Hello Katherine;Thanks for sharing that life story...Hello Katherine;<BR/><BR/>Thanks for sharing that life story with us, it is wonderful learning how God speaks to people in their lives…Livingswordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10619320099363943460noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-1568427462663774562008-07-22T13:25:00.000-05:002008-07-22T13:25:00.000-05:00Yeah. I have seen this chapter differently the las...Yeah. I have seen this chapter differently the last couple years, too. It is a wonderful descruption of GOd. <BR/><BR/>The church I left a year and a half ago was heavy on emphasizing faith - to the point of turing it into a work - a performance based thing. Sigh, it was not fun. A little while before I left, after our Christmas Eve service, I went to my office to work (was putting in 60+ hours a week trying to be good enough - sigh).<BR/><BR/>Lying on my chair was a present from one of the people in my department. I opened it and God spoke something to me and I started crying. The gist was an etched mirror with a part of 1 Corinthians 13:13 - "Faith, hope, love... but the greatest of these is love."<BR/><BR/>God clearly spoke to me and said, "Love is more important than faith." Wow.<BR/><BR/>A little later, He connected Matthew 7:21-23 with 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. Love is how we even know HIm... ;-)Jeannette Alteshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06574051760314762024noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-375476649239359262008-07-22T13:08:00.000-05:002008-07-22T13:08:00.000-05:00Joel, we're so tracking on the same page today! I ...Joel, we're so tracking on the same page today! I had a post in draft format hanging around for months and just decided today to put it out there--and the topic was also on love. Great post of yours and now I'm off to check out the links you gave.Tracy Simmonshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17636022373370290350noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-29606082.post-13433621654142239442008-07-22T11:51:00.000-05:002008-07-22T11:51:00.000-05:00Hi Joel;Back injuries are very challenging my wife...Hi Joel;<BR/><BR/>Back injuries are very challenging my wife lives in chronic pain from a back injury. Currently I am suffering from an injured knee so “I hear you” brother and take care during those Sunday morning prayer times….<BR/><BR/>Excellent insights as usual….<BR/><BR/>If we are in genuine relationship with God and therefore His love then our lives will be transformed it is not a matter of us working our way thru the self help principles check list. It seems one of the major issues is that so many Jesus followers spend so little time in the Word which God uses to enhance spiritual surgery.Livingswordhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10619320099363943460noreply@blogger.com