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continuation...
In other words, love, or charity, is what makes man worthy and his life, meaningful. In Greek, this kind of love is called agape. This is the holy love which the Gospel of Christ teaches. So, even if a person gives away everything that he possesses, even if he allows himself to be burned, that would not mean a thing if he does not have love.
It is just bad that, this most important component is what many of us are lacking. But do you know what many people keep and nurture in their hearts? Hatred, ill feelings toward his fellowman, and selfishness. Man loves only those who belong to his family – his parents, his brothers and sisters; but hates somebody else’s mother and father, brothers and sisters. He does not have love. He lacks what the Bible teaches as the most important. So, what will happen to man now? He will get worse; his moral values will continue to deteriorate. And granting that he has faith, that faith remains useless because he does not have love. That is what the Bible said. Even if you claim to have faith and hope, yet you are without love, that wouldn’t have any bearing at all. Why? Because you have taken away what the Bible said as the most important, and that is love, or charity. Faith and hope minus love is nothing. That is why we must not take for granted the fundamental commandment. Let us exercise love, or charity.
Are there other verses that would prove that love, or charity, is, indeed, the first of them all? Colossians 3:14 says,
“And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.”
Which should be above all things? St. Paul said, charity, or love, should be above all things because it is the bond of perfection.
Let me ask you. Do you have love? Perhaps you would tell me that you have it because you love your wife. That is why, even if your wife has become quite domineering, you just let her do as she pleases because you love her. That is what you think! But that is not love, as far as the Bible is concerned. Do you know the meaning of love that the Bible teaches? Actually, there are different kinds of love. There is the love of parents for their children, and the love of children for their parents; there is the love of a husband for his wife, and the love of the wife for her husband. The kind of love that a husband has for his wife should be different from the kind of love that a father should manifest to his children. Otherwise, he might rape his own daughter; in the same manner that, the love of a husband for his wife should not be rendered to other women. If he does, he’ll become unfaithful to his wife.
This is the reason why the Bible is very specific. It should be holy love, or agape. This is the kind of love that each of us should possess. I Corinthians 13:4-5 says—
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh n evil;”
Charity, or love, is kind. It is not selfish. It is soft-hearted, and is always ready to forgive.
“… envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself…”
So, if you see a person who keeps on praising himself, that person does not have love. What else?
“… is not puffed up,”
A person who has love, or charity, does not brag. He is not boastful. Nowadays, a lot of people are boastful and proud. They underrate their fellowmen.
“… Doth not behave itself unseemly,”
A person who has love does not behave with impropriety. He does not take advantage of a woman. On the other hand, a woman who has love should dress up with modesty and decency. Sometimes, we readily get the impression that a person has an unseemly behavior by the way he, or she, dresses up. For instance, a woman has an unseemly behavior if the slit of her skirt reaches up to the middle of her thighs. So that whenever she walks, the onlookers are already given a view of what is underneath that skirt. That kind of a woman does not have love, because if she does, she would not have dressed up that way. A woman who has love will not wear dresses with plunging necklines, which almost bare her full breasts. In wearing those dresses, men are being provoked to imagine something else. In a way, the number of rapists grows in number due to the doings of the women themselves. They bare their bodies as though they were selling them. These women are void of shame.
Sometimes, a woman reasons out that, she is making herself beautiful because of her husband. That is not true. If that is true, you should start making herself look enticing only a few hours before your husband comes home. If he is coming home at 7 PM, you should take a bath at around 5 PM, wear perfume, apply lipstick, and wear micro mini skirt. But why is it that you are wearing micro mini and applying make-up whenever you are going out of the house? That only means that you are not really making yourself beautiful for the pleasure of your husband but for the pleasure of other men. You just want to display yourself. What does that mean? Please, don’t get offended but this is what Hosea 2:13 says—
“And I will visit upon her the days of Baalim, wherein she burned incense to them, and she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and she went after her lovers …”
You just want to be wooed by other men. You are enticing men so that they would whistle at you as you sway your hips to the left and to the right while you walk. Isaiah 3:16 says—
“Moreover the LORD saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, and walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet;”
You are deliberately producing a tinkling sound as you walk because you want to be noticed. That means that you are looking for a lover. Once again, let us go over the qualities of love. I Corinthians 13:4-9 says—
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up. Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things; Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part;”
Charity has many characteristics. If you will learn all of them, you will not kill; you will not behave unseemly; you will not utter any vile word; you will not be cruel to your fellowman; you will not degrade other people; and you will no longer boast. Instead, you will be kind-hearted, and you will no longer behave unseemly because you now have love. And if you have love, you can easily abide by all of God’s commandments. Romans 13:9-10 says—
“For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Try to study all of God’s commandments, and you’ll see that they are all summed up in love. God loves you and your fellowman that is why He commanded you not to kill, not to commit adultery, etc. He does not want you to offend the feelings of others. As mentioned, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” That is why we are saying that, love is the foremost need of man. Now, of love, or charity, is the first, what are the second and the third needs of man? I Corinthians 13:13 says—
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
Therefore, the second and the third needs of man are faith and hope. But will it be alright if man will just have love, but without faith? Will that be possible? Is faith that necessary in the life of a person? Hebrew 11:6 says—
“But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
Will God be pleased if you do not have faith? No! That is why charity or love has companions, and one of them is faith. The Bible says—
“Without faith it is impossible to please God, and he who comes to God must believe that he is God and He is a “rewarder”.
These are vital factors to salvation. So, for us to please God, we need to do things by faith. Faith is needed. What can faith do in the life of a person? What can faith in God do to a person? What can faith do to a person’s being? Matthew 17:20 says—
“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”
Faith can do wonders to a person. Things that are impossible are made possible by faith. Things that are difficult are made easy if a person has faith.
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Bible
The
Way to Salvation
