love has to look like something

Phenomenology of Love
Manuel Dy Jr.

Love is very much complicated word that still many people cannot understand the meaning of love. It maybe because love is the most broad topical of many generations. Many philosophers, wirters and many more had given their own meaning of love. As a matter of fact, love has been defined in so many ways. That even a child could give a meaning to it. But then if we categorize this meanings, much of which are showing that love is an object, a subject, a verb, a noun, and adjective. Yes love is a multi-faceted word that it can be all of the part of speech. As for my opinion, most of the people I know will say that love is an action. And for me it it’s the most appropriate meaning then for me. Love can be felt, yes love but love is also the action you need to do to show reciprocity to what others show to you or has done for you. As to Mr. Dy, love started from loneliness, but as for what I have been taught. Love comes from God. And because he loves us first, we are able to love him back and his example of love has been our model as to how should we love others.

According to Mr. Dy, loneliness started the experience of being love. I know I can’t question him right there because every individual has his own say but as for me, it isn’t. Because love is the most beautiful thing that God has given us. Because without his love, we are maybe not here anymore. But I know some will tell me that because of love u became broke. But we can only be victorious because of Jesus. Although we have different backgrounds and different time frames with Jesus, one thing that we find that remains the same is God’s love for us. His love never changes, His love remains the same, and His love never fails. So if you feel like someone betrayed you, why not love him first.

Sometimes love can be taken for granted and the word used over and over. For example, you might say, “I love my car, or I love the smell, or I love ice cream. In our minds though, love has to look like something. But when the words “I love you” come to mind, we become scared of it because of our past. Maybe someone you loved left you and so you want to guard your heart and don’t really want to believe those words anymore.

What then is God’s definition of love? In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 it says that, “love is long suffering” (patient). That’s the first definition. The second is, “Love is kind.” Then continuing it says, “Love does not envy, does not parade itself, is not puffed up, does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in inequity but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and love never fails.” I might emphasized the words LOVE NEVER FAILS. Yes, true love, it does not fails. So you’re probably thinking then now that why that many relationships has to be end, and families come to be ruined, I say, it is because they don’t have the right foundation of love. I have read this note which I rephrased that “most of the reasons why we commit mistakes and doomed ourselves, is because we were not willing to wait, that we were not been patient. It might be true right. Because according to statistics, each year, the number of teenage pregnancies are rampantly going higher each time, many relationships has been broken because they were not patient to each other. And according to the bible, the very first definition is “long-suffering”. Jesus is a perfect example of that love, he has suffered a lot of insults, he has been accused of many things and yet he has given us patience just so we can see his purpose here unto this earth. He suffered and bore all the pain because he loves us and he doesn’t want us to be lost again and because he knows that through him, we can be redeemed and we can be accepted as God’s children again. .

Love should not be over busy with other things. In Luke Chapter 10 .it is when Jesus visited Mary and Martha household. Martha was so concerned with the things that had to be done so she asked Jesus to send Mary to help her. But Jesus said to her that Mary chose the good part by listening to His words, and it shall not be taken away from her.

In the Bible, Paul says that we must rely on what Christ Jesus has done for us and not on our own human efforts; because our human efforts, our achievements, and our possessions are simply garbage when comparing to what we have in Jesus.

There are times when we don’t understand what is happening in our lives. We feel, we hope, we trust, we get let down, and we get burned. But God in His sovereignty says to you who are spiritually mature to keep pressing on. He has something better for you but you need to go through this in order to obtain it. That’s the race you’re on. When you get there you will understand. But in the process, love has to look like something. Otherwise, who will the unsaved look for in love? How are they going to know what love is? Thus, we need to be the light to show the world what love looks like.

In 1 Cor. 14:1 it says, “Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire his love.” Furthermore, the Bible says in John 15:2 to be glad that, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” This just means that we should grow the thing that brings out the best in us and prune those we think that will put us into ruin.

Love cannot be over busy. One day I remember God talk to me and he revealed something to me, some people think that they are unworthy, they are dirty, they were ashamed to approach people because they were afraid that you’ll gonna judge the, most of this people felt unloved and so, that is why, our love shouldn’t be busy overlooking into things that it felt like weve filled them with much attention already, there are lots of people who needs to be love. And because I am filled with love by God and by the people sorrounds me, why not share my love to this people. Why not share a glimpse of how God filled you with much enthusiasm and joy in your heart. They were all just like us, Jesus came to the world so he could love everyone, and when he went up to heaven, he has given us the authority to love his people. Just by merely talking to them could give them a hint how much loved youre filled with. Because when they can see the passion that resides in you, they will then reflect the light you’ve given them.

John 15:4-5 says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you for a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine. And you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. Yes, I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who remain in me and I in them will produce much fruit for apart from me, you can do nothing. “

All the energies we have when we're investing in the Lord, sitting at His feet, I don't know how many times we continuously say devotions, devotions, devotions. We sit at His feet, listen to His voice, but don't you close the book and say that we're done. Devotions begin our time with the Lord, but it doesn't end when we close the book. He says for you to look like love in this hurting world.

As Jesus came and spoke to them, as Matthew 28 tells us, he said this: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

God wants to do miraculous things through our lives. It's going to start with love. Love has to look like something. So when we read in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 on what love looks like, I thought, wait a minute, it kind of sounds like Jesus. You know, we can substitute Jesus' name in place of “love” in that chapter. And I thought what does love look like from God? That's the greatest model. That's the simplest form of what love looks like, and it's really Jesus going to the cross. He died for us. That Jesus suffered long. Jesus is kind. Jesus doesn't envy. Jesus does not parade Himself, doesn't puff Himself up. Jesus is not rude to us. Jesus doesn't seek his own. He came to serve. He's not provoked. He thinks no evil. He does not rejoice in inequity or when we do things that are not pleasing to Him, but He rejoices in the truth. Jesus bore all things. He believed in all things. Jesus hoped in all things. He endured all things. In other words, Jesus never fails. If you want to know what love looks like, look to Jesus and then remodel after him. I know I come too far of the phenomenology of love by Manuel B. Dy Jr. but its just so cruel of me if I haven’t write about where my love comes from. According to Mr. Dy, without love, you are nothing, then let me change the love there again with Jesus. Without Jesus, We are nothing. Love in not a concept or theory, or even an important part of missions, but the centre of everything we do and why we do it. It is the very heartbeat of our movement. So what does love look like? Love has a face. It looks like something. It looks like someone. When we are motivated by love and are confident that “the God of the impossible” lives inside of us, we can do anything and go anywhere, and nothing will be too difficult. This is the great mystery: that God has chosen to inhabit and possess little jars of clay with His lavish love so that we can spread His fragrance to the darkest ends of the earth, and to every person we meet each day. When we know how extravagantly loved we are by the Father, we are able to lay down our lives in obedience with great joy.