- THE FIRST RUNG THAT WE DILIGENTLY ADD TO OUR LIVES IS FAITH
2. THE SECOND RUNG THAT WE DILIGENTLY PURSUE IS MORAL EXCELLENCE
3. THE THIRD RUNG THAT WE DILIGENTLY GROW IN IS Knowledge
4. THE FOURTH RUNG THAT WE DILIGENTLY GROW IN IS self-control
5. THE fifth RUNG THAT WE DILIGENTLY PURSUE IS Perseverance
6. THE Sixth RUNG THAT WE DILIGENTLY GROW IN IS GODLINESS
7. THE seventh RUNG THAT WE DILIGENTLY GROW IN IS BROTHERLY KINDNESS
8. THE Eighth RUNG THAT WE DILIGENTLY GROW IN IS LOVE
Eros- Love found in romantic relationships. Connected to falling or being in love.
Storge- Love between family members. A protective love that can withstand hardships & trials
PhilEO-Love between close friends. Describes the emotional feeling of a close friend.
When David had finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan was bound to David in close friendship, and loved him as much as he loved himself. 1 Samuel 18:1 CSB
Agape – Love that is unconditional and sacrificial. The love that God is and shows.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8 NIV
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:16 NIV
“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 ESV
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Prophecy and speaking in unknown languages and special knowledge will become useless. But love will last forever! Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when the time of perfection comes, these partial things will become useless.
When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.[c] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely. Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If you love [agape] me, you will keep my commandments. John 14:15
WHAT HINDERS US FROM LOVE?
1. LABELS
Once you label me, you negate me. Soren Kierkegaard.
Definitions belong to the definers- not the defined. Toni Morrison
2. FEAR
Fear stifles the effects of love, this idea its us versus them, agreement or approval. True love challenges this fear, digs deep to uncover its roots, and replace it with an expansive and fearless love.
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John 4:17-19
Outrage is a double edged sword that initially feels gratifying but gradually corrodes one’s being. Outrage is like a lot of other things that feel good but over times devour us from the inside out. Tim Kreider
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love[Agape] your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Matthew 5:43-45
3. FALSE TRUTH
What hinders the love of God from us to others is when we compromise his Truth with our experiential truths and values. It produces confusion in hearts and minds.
WHAT HELPS US TO LOVE?
- LISTENING
Listening is an expression of love. Reflecting our willingness to care, understand, and value others.
So much of what we think we know about one another could be radically changed by a willingness to simply listen.
2. PRESENCE
We can’t love someone without Connection and that requires us to be PRESENT
Truth without love is brutality, and love without truth is hypocrisy – Warren Wiersbe
“Technoference” – use of technological devices that interferes with or interrupts everyday normal family relations and interactions
Withness – being with people in all their complexities and contradictions.
The word became flesh and blood moving into our neighborhood. John 1:14 MSG
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. 2 Cor 5:14-15 ESV
3. ACTION
LOVE=CHARITY=ACTION
SHARING WITH OTHERS OUR TIME, TALENTS, TREASURE, AND TESTIMONY IS THE BEGINNING OF PUTTING LOVE IN ACTION
There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13 NLT
Selfless love transcends the boundaries of conditional affection and defies the notion that love is a quid-pro-quo exchange.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. 1 John 4:9-16 NIV