What do we know about God and love?

"From God's other known attributes we may learn much about His love.
We can know, for instance, that
because God is self-existent, His love had no beginning;
because He is eternal, His love can have no end;
because He is infinite, it has no limits;
because He is holy, it is the quintessence of all spotless purity;
because He is immense, His love is an incomprehensibly vast, bottomless, shoreless sea before which we kneel in joyful silence and from which the loftiest eloquence retreat confused and abashed."

A. W. Tozer
The Knowledge of the Holy
p. 105

Where does Love come from?

"The springs of love are in God, not in us.  It is absurd to look for the love of God in our hearts naturally; it is only there when it has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit."
Oswald Chambers

Who or What is in Control?

"Loving means losing control of our schedule, our money, and our time.  When we love we cease to be the master and become the servant."
Paul Miller
Love Walked Among Us
p. 34

Agapè, Anyone?

The Greek word, agapè, is defined as "a love that is based on the deliberate choice of the one who loves rather than the worthiness of the one who is loved."*  

What does that teach us about ourselves and what does that reveal to us about God?

Christianity.about.com defines it as "selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love, the highest form of love…"

Thomas Jay Oord defined it as "an intentional response to promote well-being when responding to that which has generated ill-being."**

However we define it, it is above us and beyond us.  It requires more than we can give.  It commands a spark of divinity imparted into us to extend to another.  It entails the Father of Love breathing and working through us.  I can see no other way.  We are not good enough, smart enough, clever enough, giving enough.  We are inadequate for the task, for the role.  We need help.  We have to submit to it's Author and let Him write the words and the script.

*The Nelson Study Bible:  The New King James Version (1997)
**Oord, Thomas Jay (2010). Defining Love: A Philosophical, Scientific, and Theological Engagement. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press.ISBN 1-58743-257-9.

What do you give yourself to first?

"…give yourself first to love."

Henry Drummon
The Greatest Thing in the World
page 29

Who is your greatest teacher?

"Love is the greatest of teachers, for there is no authority more compelling, no power more hypnotically transfixing, no counsel more wise, no message we are more longing to hear, no other master for whom it is easier to give up absolutely everything in order to follow and obey."  Mike Mason
(as quoted in p. 5 of Becoming a Woman Who Loves, by Cynthia Heald)

What is the state of your soul?

"Love is the most God-like state of the soul…
Love is the life of the soul."

David Thomas
(p. 1, quoted in Becoming a Woman Who Loves, Cynthia Heald)

Raising the Bar

Cynthia Heald in her book, Becoming a Woman Who Loves, prefaces the book with reading Jesus' words in John 13, where He ramps up the Old Testament command.

Old Testament Command -Love your neighbor as yourself:  I am the Lord.  (Lev 19:18)
New Testament Command - Love as I have loved you.  (Jesus said) (John 13:34,35)

Jesus always did that, raising the bar.  It's not just murder, don't hate in your heart (Matt 5:21,22).  It's not just don't commit adultery, don't look and lust (Matt 5:27,28).  Here He does it again:  Don't just love others as yourself, love them the way I have loved you.  Now, that's another thing altogether.  As Mrs. Heald points it, it's a lot easier to love others as I love myself, but can I even comprehend loving others as Jesus did, as Jesus would.