God's teaching about love and forgiveness. Jesus' commandment

Hello friends.

All my life I have been thinking about the theme of this series of articles - what we put ourselves into. And I just recently caught myself doing this. And I realized that I want to live my life so that it is meaningful and not in vain before God.

One day I was deeply struck by a thought. People don't like to think about the meaning of their lives. But at the same time, they still devote themselves to something and invest. And only then, at the end of my life, they wonder how consciously I lived. The result is suicide. And even outwardly very successful people. Two of them were especially dear to me: the writer and Nobel laureate Ernest Hemingway and the talented actor Robin Williams. I understand when a person commits suicide with a guilty conscience. And he suffers, and then one day he decides to end it. But these people had external success and recognition.

And then I thought...

In general, my thoughts moved to a practical plane. I selected for myself the most popular meanings of life and decided to analyze them based on Scripture. Before this, we analyzed the meanings of life, which as a result turned out to be incorrect.

The basis for this study I took from Scripture:

Matthew 7:16-17 You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

I look at each meaning from three sides:

Fetus during life
Fetus after life
Personal life/Inner harmony

At the same time, I tried to study as objectively as possible, despite the fact that I am just a person. So, what meanings have I already studied:

Glory -
Your “I” - using the example of Ernest Hemingway
Power - the example of Joseph Stalin
Pride - the example of Bobby Fischer, the 11th world chess champion
Money - Using the example of Aristotle Onassis
Family/children - using the example of Grace Hemingway

After studying their lives, I realized that the meaning to which they dedicated did not bring much good and benefit either to them, or to those close to them, or even to those far away.

But today I am studying the meaning that, in my opinion, is righteous and pleasing to God.

Quotes about love from the Bible

This is love, that we did not love God, but He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:10)
Beloved! let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love has not known God, because God is love. (1 John 4:7–8)
The Lord appeared to me from afar and said: I have loved you with eternal love and therefore have extended favor to you. (Jer. 31.3)
And we have this commandment from Him, that he who loves God should also love his brother. (John 4:21)
But God proves His love for us by the fact that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. (Rom.5:8)
See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called and be children of God. (1 John 3:1)
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
I give you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, let you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34–35)
Be all of the same mind, compassionate, brotherly, merciful, friendly, humble in wisdom; Do not repay evil for evil or insult for insult; on the contrary, bless, knowing that you are called to this in order to inherit the blessing. (1 Peter 3:8)
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus said to him: You answered correctly; do this and you will live. (Luke 10:25–28)
Most of all, have fervent love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. (1Pet.4:8)
And if I give away all my property and give my body to be burned, but do not have love, it does me no good. (1 Cor. 13.3)
And now these three remain: faith, hope, love; but love is the greatest of them all. (1 Cor. 13:1)
Love is patient, merciful, love does not envy, love is not arrogant, is not proud, is not rude, does not seek its own, is not irritated, does not think evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; covers everything, believes everything, hopes everything, endures everything. (1 Cor. 13:4–8)
Better is a dish of greens, and with it love, than a fattened bull, and with it, hatred. (Proverbs 15:17)
And live in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as an offering and sacrifice to God for a sweet aroma. (Eph.5:2)
If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries, and have all knowledge and all faith, so that I could move mountains, but do not have love, then I am nothing. (1 Cor. 13:2)
Love for the Lord is glorious wisdom, and whoever He pleases shares it as He pleases. (Sir.1,14)
The eyes of the Lord are on those who love Him. He is a mighty protection and a strong support, a cover from the heat and a cover from the midday heat, a guard against stumbling and a guard against falling; He elevates the soul and enlightens the eyes, gives medicine, life and blessing. (Sir.34,16–17)

Son of God and Savior of men

Before moving from this passage to the next, let us note what it says about Jesus Christ.

He brought life.

God sent Him so that we might have life through Him (4:9).

There is a big difference between existence and life. Existence is given to all people, but life is not given to everyone. The very tenacity with which people seek pleasure proves that something is missing in their lives.

One famous doctor said that people would rather find a cure for cancer than a cure for boredom.

Jesus gives man a purpose in life and the strength to live. Christ turns human existence into fullness of life.

Jesus restored man's relationship with God.

God sent Him as an atonement for our sins (4:10).

We no longer live in a world in which animals are sacrificed, but we can fully understand what sacrifice is. When a person sins, his relationship with God is disrupted. In the minds of the ancients, sacrifice was an expression of repentance; she had to restore the broken relationship. By His life and death, Jesus enabled man to enter into a new relationship of peace and friendship with God.

He built a bridge across the terrible gap between man and God.

Jesus is the Savior of the world.

When Jesus came into this world, people most acutely felt, as Seneca said, “their weakness in the most necessary things.” They were waiting for "a hand stretched down to lift them up."

It would be wrong to think of salvation only as deliverance from hellish torment. People need to be saved from themselves, from habits that have become bonds for them, from temptations, fears and anxieties, from recklessness and mistakes.

And every time Jesus offers people salvation. He brings something that enables them to endure in life and prepare for eternity.

Jesus is the Son of God.

This phrase means that Jesus Christ is in a completely exclusive relationship with God. Only Jesus Christ can show people what God is like; only He can bring grace, love, forgiveness and the power of God to people.

But there is another point in this passage.

He teaches us about God, and he teaches us about Jesus and about the Spirit. In 4:13 John says that we know that we abide in God precisely because He has given us of His Spirit.

It is the influence of the Spirit within us that propels us to seek God in the beginning, and it is the Spirit that gives us the assurance that we have achieved a truly peaceful relationship with Him. It is the Spirit in our hearts that gives us the courage to turn to God as our Father.

15 Because you did not receive the spirit of slavery [to] live again in fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry: “Abba, Father!” 16 This very Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. (Rom.8:15,16)

The Spirit is our inner witness, giving us a sudden, spontaneous, unanalyzable awareness of the presence of the Divine in our lives.

Are you abiding in God?

Short Bible quotes about love.

God is love. John 4.8
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles. Sol 24.17
Just as in water there is face to face, so a person’s heart is to man. Proverbs 27,19
What you hate, don’t do to anyone. Commodity 4.15
Greater love has no one than to lay down his life for his friends. John 15,13
But to you who hear, I say: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you. Luke 6:27
Bless those who curse you and pray for those who abuse you. Luke 6:28
He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no temptation in him. 1 John 2:10
Love consists in our acting according to His commandments. 2John 6
Above all, put on love, which is the sum of perfection. Col.3,14
Let us love Him because He first loved us. 1John 4:19
If you love Me, keep My commandments. John 14,15
The Lord protects all those who love Him. Ps.144.20
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. John 15,12
Love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:39

The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

There was one disciple of Jesus who knew exactly what it meant to abide in the love of God. He called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. Therefore, John knew what none of us know, because Jesus loved him in a special way compared to the rest of the disciples.

Jesus loved all his disciples equally. Only John realized this. John calls himself, especially in the last hours of our Lord's earthly life, the disciple whom Jesus loved.

(John 13:22-23)

Then the disciples looked around at each other, wondering who He was talking about. One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ breast.

This is a picture of peace in the love of God. When you lie at the breast of Jesus, you rest in His love for you. The main thing is His love for you, not yours for the Lord.

John reclined at Jesus' chest. The Lord just said, “One of you will betray Me.” Then the disciples looked at each other.

Important: we will never find the answer to our questions by looking at each other.

(John 13:23-25)

One of His disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ breast. Simon Peter made a sign to him to ask who it was that he was talking about. He fell to the chest of Jesus and said to Him: Lord! who is this?

It was Judas Iscariot who had no love for the Lord - a man who carried a box of money. The devil entered him. And this man hanged himself. If he had waited a few hours, he would have been saved. Jesus died for him too.

Jesus told John who would betray. John was the only one of the disciples who knew about the traitor.

A comment!

He who relies on God's love for him has the closest communication with God and hears His heartbeat.

Pictures and cards: quotes about love from the Bible.

The Disciple Who Loved Jesus

On the other hand, Peter is the opposite of John. Because Peter boasted of his love for the Lord.

Jesus told them, “I will go through persecution and die.”

How circumstances can change character, read in this article!

Peter said, “Lord, this will never happen to You. Even if everyone leaves You, I will never leave You.”

And he said this in front of all the other disciples.

(John 13:38)

Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for Me?” Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied Me three times.

Peter was very confident in himself. However, he denied the Lord three times. Why did he renounce? After all, Peter's love was true. But the problem was that he relied on his love for the Lord.

Peter represents the one who loves the Lord.
John, through his words and actions, shows who Jesus loves.

When Jesus was on the cross, John was there. Where was Peter? Where is the man who trusted in his love for the Lord?

Self-righteousness is deeply rooted in a person and is difficult to notice.

Because of self-righteousness, people cannot accept good from the Lord. The fact is that sinners receive good things from Jesus. Lepers, harlots, tax collectors receive the benefit. But the self-righteous cannot receive good from Jesus, so they fall from grace.

(Gal 5:4) You, who justify yourselves by the law, are left without Christ, you have fallen from grace.

What does sincere love give a person?

By His own example, when Christ sacrificed His life for humanity and for the sake of its salvation, He showed everyone how much power sincere love has. If there is love between people, then family relationships will become stronger and happier, children will grow up in a good environment and receive the proper example, the world will become much kinder and more welcoming. If a person is able to sincerely love others, even if he does not like everything about those around him, this speaks of his closeness to the Lord and confirms the fact that he does not live in the world in vain.

Photo: Flickr.com

Since it is love that is the basis of all virtue, Christ told his disciples that they must practice it and cultivate it within themselves. Love is precisely the feeling that allowed various miracles to happen; it is love that can unite completely different people with each other, which is why it is vital.

Yes, love for neighbors and God was also spoken of in the Old Testament, but Christ slightly updated this commandment, adding a new feature to it. If the Old Testament says that you need to love others as yourself, then Christ teaches that you should love your neighbors even more than yourself. Because that's exactly what he did, dying on the cross for the sins of all mankind. If the Old Testament said that enemies must be hated, then Christ taught that it is worth showing love even to ill-wishers, since this allows a person to do everything possible to save his soul. It is this commandment of Christ that makes it possible to distinguish a person who is His disciple, since Christian love is especially pure and selfless.

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