Abba, Father, I …

The question of what to wear ( especially among Christian women ) is perhaps less important nowadays than it used to be.

But the issue will never really go away. It was a problem 2000 years ago. It is a problem in the 21st century. It will remain a problem as long as we live on terra firma. That is, until men are glorified and removed from the presence of sin, what a woman wears will remain an issue for a Christian.

Pea and them girls at yakuti asked me to respond to one girl asking a question about what she wears. And so i decided to make a short post on it here.

And they were naked

The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Imagine this scenario:

You are a missionary. You are sent to preach in a distant tropical jungle. Or tropical paradise. When you arrive in this secluded place, lo and behold, you find the villagers going about their business naked.  No one has any piece of clothing whatsoever. After getting over the “shock”, you preach to them, and all the villagers gladly believe in Christ and are born again.

You ask them whether they have problem with sexual sins, and they laugh at the question. No, they tell you. People are so busy making a living no one has time to think about sex out of the context of the necessity of procreation.

Should you ask them to wear clothes? Why? You were sent to preach Christ, not introduce a new culture of clothes. Right? Right.

This is not as far fetched at you might imagine. I doubt the Turkana men have any problem with  their bare-chested women.

Jeans or no Jeans
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This is the final post ( for now )  on the love trail. See the previous ones:

• a born again christian has no right to hate or dislike another person.
• the type of love shown by a born again Christian must be agape
• a born again Christian cannot hate gays and other “sinners”
• How do you love your fellow Christians?

In today’s post, we shall show some love to our pets.

Americans love their pets. Very very much.

And that is why i saw it fit to put in a word or two on a Christian’s love for pets.

The Trend

Listen to this:

• Commonly heard: “I  am a pet parent“
• The Pet industry is a $45 billion business ( 2009 estimates according to APPA )
• People will continue to spend above and beyond on their pets as the population ages and pets take the place of children at home; however, pet parents will continue to focus their dollars on quality necessities, such as food, leashes, and bedding,..
• It is now common to purchase gifts and diamond jewelry for dogs.

In summary, pets now compete with children and other humans for love and affection. More and more modern girls consider dogs adorable and children “messy” and “demanding”.

More people are choosing to love dogs far more and above humans.

How i love my dog!

How much love should my dog get from me?
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In the past three posts on love, we saw that:

• a born again christian has no right to hate or dislike another person.
• the type of love shown by a born again Christian must be agape and
• a born again Christian cannot hate gays and other “sinners”

In this post, i will attempt to answer the question, how do you love other people?

This is not a trivial question.

By love, i do not mean the superficial  ‘love you” type statements that people so often throw at each other. I mean God-like, agape love.

Love for one another

I will make it easier for us. I will restrict the discussion to loving fellow born again Christians. Those that you may be having fellowship with.

So how do you show love to fellow Christians? The same way Christ shows His love to you, His body, His church;

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ( John 15:12 NIV)

This, of course, means agape love. It means;

Relating to them the way Christ relates to them, His Church.

It means, caring for their needs as much as ( or even before ) yours.

I know. That must be difficult in the  “me-me” society we live.

Worse still, what if the other people are just outright “unlovable”?

It is easy to love those whom we like. It is easier to love those who love us. But that is not a feat that requires one to be born again. Even the non-saved can do that.

6If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? ⁴⁸Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. ( Matthew 5:46-48)

Again, what if the other people are unlovable? In that case, ask yourself, “does the Lord love them?”

Of course He does. How does He show them His love? Mostly, trough his body, the church. Through you.  He wants to show His love towards them, through you.

Are you going to say no? If you do refuse Him this favor, how can He be your “Lord”? How can you say you love Him?

But if you are willing to obey His prompting and are willing to work with Him, He will make it possible for you to show agape love to the most “unlovable people”:

But what is impossible with men is possible with God.

So, how do you practically do this?

There is no magic formula. But when presented with any difficult love situation, listen to what the Spirit is telling you to do. He is the author of the love in you, after all.

He always knows what each situation calls for.

What if you just cannot do it?

That is not possible if you have the Spirit. If you have the Spirit, you will want to love others. You cannot but love. Because love is the fruit of the Spirit.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. ( Galatians 5:22-23 NIV)

Love for Spouse
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“God hates gays.” seen on a protest sign carried by protesters.

That is extremely absurd. At least to a visitor from another planet.

But lo and behold, if you live in these united states of America, and if you identify yourself with the political Evangelical Christianity you might actually start to believe that statement. You are even more likely to be swayed since some of these protests are sponsored by or somehow affiliated with the Evangelical “Christian” movement or “Family Value” preaching organizations.

Does our Lord hate anyone? No. That is an absurd thought.

( If you are gay, please be assured the Lord loves you, but hates all sin, including yours, and unless you are born again, you will be certainly lost for ever. )

To make it clear for you, let us begin at the beginning.

Back to Eden

When Adam was created, the Lord told him;

¹⁵ The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. ¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; ¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” (Gen 2:15-17 NIV)

When the Devil found Eve, he told her the exact opposite, coated with some truth;

He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
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In the previous post, i mentioned that a born again christian has no right to hate or dislike another person. No matter how loathsome they maybe. A born again Christian is foremost characterized by a show of love. If someone proclaims to be a follower of Christ, and you detect hate in their relationship to other people, dismiss them. Such a person has never met Christ.

In this post we answer the question, what type of love is this? How should i love?

Three types of love

You no doubt have heard that there are three main types of love that appears in the Bible: Eros, Philia and Agape.

Here are quick and simple everyday man’s definitions ( All these words are of course from Greek words):

• Eros: sexual love, erotic love. ( also erasthai, to love, desire )
• Philia: friendship, friendly feeling towards those you like or are related to
• Agape: Godly love

Simply put, Eros is erotic love, as in that which exists between a man and a woman. That is what Hollywood would want you to believe is the whole purpose of life. Most people, when you mention the word love, simply think Eros.

Philia is brotherly love, that which exists between family members or friends. Agape is that extreme love, as in the love of God for man. That is the type of love that can cause the righteous man Jesus Christ to die for sinful and loathsome people.

If the Christian love were solely Eros, what difference would there between you and any other person who is capable of showing Eros even without being a Christian?  None.

If Christian love were only Philia, what difference would there be between you and a Muslim who shows deep “Philia” to his fellow Muslims, but have it as his mission to hate and destroy other human beings not following his belief? None.

It does appear then, that the Christian love must be agape love. Agape love, as you very well know, is the love that is being referred to when it is said that God is love.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ( John 3:16 NIV)

God’s love
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