The Soda Shop Message Boards

What exactly is "Love"?

At what point does "Love" cross the line?

Jesus said to love one another. I'm pretty sure that means no conditions attached. However, with all things, there comes a moment where we have to stop and define what exactly "love" is, and how exactly we're supposed to show it to one another. We talk about not judging people, but loving them no matter what. Does that mean we should never say anything to them about the possible road to separation from God they may be walking? Or do we simply "Love them" and "Let it be between them and God"? When does loving people cross the line into leading people astray? Is Love a catch all, or is it only a certain-scenario-action, or what?

Is it not loving someone to talk about their sin and the potential separation from God they could be facing? Where's the line between Loving and Judging?

Discuss.

I think we should ALWAYS love people. What that love looks like may change a little from situation to situation, but I think all acts of love should have some similarities.

So what should those similarities be? What is love? Let's see what the Bible says:

1 John 3:16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

Mark 12:31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

From 1 Corinthians 13: 4Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;b 6it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8Love never ends.

From these I would like to suggest a few things.

Before calling your actions love make sure that you are putting the needs of the other person first (because "It does not insist on its own way," we need to love our neighbour as we love ourselves, and in the example of Jesus love is essentially self sacrificing.)

We need to be careful that we are complex and detailed when we do this. Warning someone about Hell is technically thinking about their needs before ours (after all they might hate us, so we aren't doing this for ourselves.) However, we need to think about whether or not there is a way or time to say it that would hurt them less or be easier for them to understand. I think we need to remember that it is the Holy Spirit's role to convict. We simply need to say the truth so they will know that opinion is out there. A lot of people already know some about Christianity. We can remind them or clarify the details but pushing them probably won't do a whole lot of good. We need to let the Holy Spirit lead us.