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Hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of Christ with Coffee on Ice. I am your host, Aliost. It is a joy and honor to be here with you guys today. Happy Friday, everyone. How are we feeling? How are we doing both physically, mentally, spiritually? I hope that it's all really good. I hope that we are doing so good, guys. I don't know. I might be congested for the rest of my life. I might be congested for the rest of my life. I. I don't know if you can hear it, but I still feel so stuffy from this cold that I. At the time of me recording this, it's been a couple weeks still. But I'm so sorry. I don't know what to do about it. I'm doing the nasal spray. I'm doing the decongestant, like, all the things. So anyway, this might be my life forever. I don't know. I've been praying over my face, praying over my nose. It's okay. Hey, we're healthy, though. We are healthy. And I'm grateful to be here with you guys. When we got another day, God gave us another day. That's so fun and exciting. We have our Christ. We have our Christ. And we have our coffee on ice. This ice sounds really fun. Today, these cups are still available. I say that because sometimes you guys ask. They are still available on our merch, which is linked anywhere. I don't know. In a bio somewhere. It's linked. Coffee is good today. Coffee is good. Coffee. Guys, I want to talk about something today. And honestly, I don't know, maybe this would have been a good episode for, like, Valentine's Day or something. I don't know. But I want to talk about love. Can we just get real mush today and talk about love? Real love, true love, biblical love, like how God has created and designed. What does God say love is? I'd love to talk about that today and just kind of break it down. The Lord has really been highlighting love to me lately. And I know that that sounds really simple because love should be everywhere. I mean, why we live right is to love one another, to love God and to love others. But it's just so interesting that God emphasizes so much on this thing called love. And it is a word that is used a lot, and we kind of throw it around. Like, I say, I love you guys, and I do. I have love for you. But technically I've never met you. But I do love you. I have love for everyone. I love my neighbors. You guys are my neighbors. You're my Brothers and sisters. But, you know, we do kind of throw the word around a lot. We use the word love, and we'll tell people we love them. And I just. I don't know, maybe it would be good for us to also just talk about what God says love is and remembering what he's always created it to be. Because I also believe there are a lot of different versions of love. I believe there are some counterfeit loves out there. There are just other versions of love outside of the original love, which is what God says love is. The way that the Lord has been speaking to me so much and just highlighting love to me lately is not for us to sit here, okay? Because this is tempting. Not for us to just sit here and think of people in our lives and be like, yeah, they don't love. Like, granted. Yes. I hope that this episode gives you clarity on maybe even some relationships in your life where you're like, wow, actually, this person doesn't really show me true love. Like, after we talk about the definition of love and what God says love is and how love looks and feels and all of those things. Yes. I would hope that, you know, it could give you clarity about relationships in your life. But the best thing we can do is look inward is to look inward. Okay? So we're not just gonna, like, nitpick the people in our lives and be like, they don't operate in love. They don't treat me this way. It's really cool. Because when we talk about these things, it should also be convicting of our own hearts, because at the end of the day, we can only control our own actions. And we're only here to better ourselves through Christ. You know, by doing that, hopefully it also inspires other people to act that way and to choose love, like, real love. The way that we decide to choose love every day and kind of resist our flesh or the things that maybe we want to act out on. And so I pray that it's also convicting and we can look inward, because I know that I will, too. Cause we are not perfect. I am not perfect. And the definition of love will convict me, too, because I don't believe at all times. I'm always operating in true love, like, genuine love, the way that God has created it to be. And so the scripture that we will definitely be referring to. I would love to bring up multiple pieces of scripture through this episode, but the classic, the one that we all probably are thinking of right now, if you guys are near your Bibles, I'd love for you to Open them with me. This is First Corinthians 13, 4, 7. And this is the biblical definition, okay, From God's mouth. The biblical definition of what real love is and what we should see see from a person when they are operating in true love. It says 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. That's the definition of love according to our Abba. Biblical love, often referred to as agape, is a selfless, sacrificial and unconditional love that is rooted in God's character and demonstrated through action. It's not just a feeling, but a conscious choice. Ooh, wait, I'm obsessed with that. What did we just say before this? That we make the decision to show up instead of like going into our own emotion in our flesh. Right? It is a decision. So it's not just a feeling. Love is not just a feeling, but it is a conscious choice to prioritize the well being of others, even when it's difficult or undeserved. This love is characterized by patience, kindness, forgiveness, and a commitment to truth and justice. Let's talk a little bit more about the selflessness part of love and the sacrificial part of love. Okay, so biblical love is not self seeking, but rather focused on the needs and interests of others. It involves putting others first, even at one's own expense. And when we look up the definition of selflessness. I love this. Obviously these are all words that we know and are familiar with, but like, there's something about looking up the literal definition of the word. I kind of want to chew it like a lot and really break it down. But we're looking at the definition now of selflessness, right? Because we're like, okay, yeah, love is like real love. Biblical love is selfless. But what is the real definition of selflessness? Selflessness is defined concern more with the needs and wishes of others, others than one's own. And then when we look up the definition of sacrifice, right? Because it's saying that love is selfless and it's sacrificial. Okay, so sacrifice, right? What is the real definition of sacrifice? It is to give up something that is valuable to you in order to help another person. And so when we think about how selflessness and being Sacrificial can work together. You're giving up something valuable to you, which maybe could even be yourself. Sometimes we really do want to put ourselves first. Sometimes that's at high value for us. It were up to us, we would probably choose ourselves first. Anyone who's not operating out of like real true love, like biblical love, is probably doing that. I think that that's our default, that's our human nature, that's our sinful nature is like being selfish and wanting to put ourselves first. And so the sacrificial part of being selfless is not putting yourself before others because that could be valuable to us. Right. So it's to give up something that is valuable, maybe us, our selfishness, in order to help another person. Obviously, sacrifice is not always like, I'm not choosing myself. Yes, it is. But there's other ways to sacrifice for people as well, like giving them the last bite of your cookie or whatever it is. Right. But sacrifice is putting aside something that may be very valuable and important to you for the sake of supporting and being there for someone and loving them. Well, in that situation, it could even be our time. That is something that God has convicted me the most of in my walk with the Lord. I'm just going to get like really ugly. This is ugly, but this is real. I don't think I was as willing to set sacrifice my time for people before I knew Jesus. And that was just because I had selfishness. I did. I had some selfishness in my heart. I did love people and I would sacrifice, but I wouldn't always want, like, I wouldn't always actually act on sacrificing for others. Especially when it came to my time, I wasn't super reliable. I would make plans and then the minute it inconvenienced me or I was tired or I didn't feel like it, or maybe something else more exciting came up, I would be like, no, I don't want to do that anymore. I wasn't willing to sacrifice my own wants and needs to be a woman of her word. To be honest, to have been somebody who was reliable and say, I made a commitment to this person. And granted, this might not be the most exciting thing for me, but I know how exciting and important it is for this other person for me to be there. And so why would I put myself before this other person? That's not real love. Right? So God really convicted me of that. And I think that just is something that naturally happens when you are walking with someone who demonstrates love so perfectly, who is Jesus if you're walking with someone like Jesus, who has demonstrated love perfectly, it's going to convict your spirit. Like, if you're walking closely with Jesus like that and you're observing and you're watching and you're listening and you're spending time with him, it's just going to convict you. You're going to be like, whoa, I could be a lot more reliable. I could be a lot more sacrificial. Right? It's also about more. Us having this talk today doesn't mean that you're. You don't do those things. But I hope that it actually ends up inspiring us at the end of this episode to do more. Because we can always do more. We can always sacrifice more. We can always love people more. We can always be less selfless. We can always be more with Jesus. So, yeah, we can sacrifice our own time for others. Biblical love is unconditional, right? It says in scripture that love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance that's unconditional. Every circumstance it endures and it never gives up. So unconditional. This love is not based on merit or deservingness. It's a choice to love regardless of the other person's actions or flaws. This is the way that Jesus loves us. The definition of love is Jesus. Definition of love is God. The source of love is God. And so when we look even at the scripture of the definition of love, it's like, this is exactly how Jesus looks at us. You know, his love for us is actually so unconditional regardless of our flaws or our actions. And that is how we are supposed to love other people, is that, yeah, people might hurt us. They might do things that we might not totally agree with. But at the end of the day, we have to choose love. Love really is a choice. And it's a fight sometimes, you know, it's a fight to continue to love other people and to choose to love them regardless of their flaws and their imperfections. Because nobody is perfect. The only person who is perfect is Jesus. You know, and so if someone perfect like that can continue to love us unconditionally, then who are we? We can, too. You know, this is a really big one, guys. This is a really big one because obviously it is biblical and God warns us that there is so much power in our tongues, you know, that we hold the power of life and death at our tongues. The words that we speak out loud, whether it's over ourselves or over other people, the things that we say hold a Lot of power. It goes back to, I heard this once where somebod had compared it to the fact that we were made in the Lord's image and all he had to do was just speak and creation formed, you know, and so if we're made in his image, and that's the kind of power that God holds when he spoke, we hold a lot of that same power in our tongues like that. We do hold the power of life and death, meaning we have the opportunity to speak life over people or to crush them. And so I say that to acknowledge that there's a lot of legitimacy in words. Words are important. But something that is, I think, more important, though, when it comes to the definition of love is action, right? So real biblical love is demonstrated also in action. And so when we're saying a lot to people, okay, and we're telling them how much we love them and how much we would die for them, and I would do this for you, and I would sacrifice this for you, and you mean it, but your actions don't align. That isn't real love. I believe that our words have to align with our actions. And I know that we've all experienced that. We've probably also done it, though. We're no better than anyone else. I want us to come to this with just humble hearts and willingness to be corrected by God. But if you're saying a lot and not following it up with action, that isn't real love. Action is so important when it comes to demonstrating true love to other people. Biblical love is not just a concept, but a way of life that is actively lived out through deeds. It involves showing compassion, forgiveness, and generosity. Actions are crucial in love. Because this is how I process things is I just ask a lot of questions, right? So we obviously just said words are very important, but actions are like super, super important, right? And then we talk about what actions do and why it's important, especially when demonstrating true love to other people and loving people. Well, it's like, okay, well, it involves showing compassion, forgiveness, generosity, and it is actively lived through deeds. But then my brain goes, okay, but why is that so? Like, why are actions so important? And so actions are crucial in love because they demonstrate sincerity, commitment, that's really good commitment and effort, solidifying emotional connections in a way that words alone cannot. So there's actually a lot that we can do in actions that speak way more than words could ever say. You know, it goes back to that saying that we've probably been told for a long time where it's like, actions Speak louder than words. But I do believe there's a lot of truth to that. Like, actions actually have certain. So much more weight than words could ever have. And so that commitment and effort through actions solidifies a lot more emotional connection with that person or individual in a way that words alone cannot. While words do express feelings, actions provide tangible evidence of those feelings, showing care, respect, and a willingness to invest in the relationship. Can we imagine if Jesus did everything that he did in his ministry for those three years, preached all those sermons, spread the good news of the gospel, was like, I am the Son of God, I am the Messiah, I am the one that you have been waiting for. He says all these things. He said he was going to die for us. He was going to be away for a little bit, and then he was going to come back. You know, when he's telling his disciples at the Last Supper and then he didn't do it, you think about that time, and it's like the action of what Jesus did on the cross for us speaks so much more. Yes. So important. But it's like, it's the cross, right? It's what he did for us. Jesus demonstrated that too, in his actions. He said, I'm gonna go to the cross and I'm gonna die and I'm gonna be brought back to life. I'm gonna be the cornerstone so that you can be close to the Father and you can be forgiven of all of your sins. It was the action of what he did that was love. And so, yes, his ministry from start to finish, we needed it. If it wasn't for his ministry from start to finish, I wouldn't be here. None of us would be here, you know, but it's like, it's the cross. It's what he did. It's the sacrifice. It's the selflessness of what he did on the cross for us. Right? That's love. That is true love. Jesus demonstrated it perfectly. And so, yes, while words express feelings, actions actually provide tangible evidence of those feelings. Jesus's love for us, everything he said was true, but it was actually the action of dying and being tortured for us. It was those actions that provided tangible evidence of the feelings of love that he has for us. That is why actions are so important when we are called to demonstrate true biblical love to other people is. We are. Yes, Talk the talk. Yes. Speak the truth. Yes. Speak life over people. Tell them how much they mean to you. Tell them how much you love them, but act it out. Actions are actually more important than talking the talk. Biblical love originates from God's own nature and is the defining characteristic of his relationship with humanity. The Bible teaches that God is love and this love is reflected in his actions towards his people. I want to read a little something to you guys. Love can be a challenge to define at the level of how a person experiences it. Love can involve personal affection, sexual attraction, platonic admiration, brotherly loyalty, or worshipful adoration. To accurately answer the question what is love? We need to go to the origin of love. The Bible tells us that love originates in God. In the English language, the word love is forced to bear the burden of a multitude of meetings. We love everything from pancakes to parents, but in vastly different ways. The languages in which the Bible was written, Hebrew and Greek, are more precise in that they utilize different words for the different types of love. The ancient languages differentiate among sexual, brotherly and family love and also the kind of love that God has for creation and that we may have for Him. In the most basic sense, love is the emotion felt in actions performed by someone concerned for the well being of another person. Love involves affection, compassion, care and self sacrifice. Love originates in the Godhead within the eternal relationship that exists among the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Loving is unique to the human experience of being an image bearer of God. A pet owner may love her dog. She is concerned for its well being and cares for it. On the other hand, her dog doesn't truly love her. Oh, it wags its tail, sits by her and comes when she calls. But all of those responses are based on the fact that she feeds it and keeps it warm. Animals cannot love in the same way that humans created in God's image can love. Here is the bottom line on love. 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 anointed sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. We love because he first loved us first. John 4:8 tells us that one who does not love does not know God because God is love. Therefore, when we read the descriptors of love in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is patient, kind, not conceited or selfish, we get a glimpse of the character of God. Now it is not accurate to turn this phrase around and say that love is God and then create a God from our own notion of what we think love is. In this scenario you end up with an idol of Your own making. But the truth is that the nature of God is love. Jesus shows us the nature and character of God the Father, and Jesus shows us the nature of love. We don't have the capacity to love well in our own strength. Just as the moon reflects the light of the sun and does not have light in itself, so we too are reflectors of God's love. Wait, I really love that metaphor. That's really cool. That means we must first be willing to receive the love that God has for us in Christ. Once we receive it, we have the opportunity and command to love others. Love initiates. God demonstrates his love towards us in that while we were still rebels against Him, Christ died for us. We love because he first loved us. Love is a quality, not an emotion. One of the most radical things Jesus taught his followers was to love their enemies. It is difficult to find this teaching in any of the great ancient philosophies or religions Godly love initiates and is not dependent on the worthiness of the receiver. Love is a characteristic and quality in the hearts of those who follow Jesus and allow his love to flow through them. How will you love others? Well, today that's really good. I love that it says that this kind of love, like true love initiates, to initiate means to begin, to be the first to start, right? So this kind of love initiates, sometimes it means that you are the only one stepping up to initiate that love first. Something that I also acknowledged in the beginning of this episode was that there's a bunch of other definitions of love. Okay, so now that we've really broken down the true definition of what real love is according to our God, what are the other loves like? There's got to be a counterfeit, because anything that God has created and made, there's typically a counterfeit. The world has tried to create its own. The enemy has tried to create his own. He has no original thoughts in his mind, right? He just copies everything that the Lord does and then twists it and makes it his own. And so there is another version. There are other definitions of love that are outside of the truth. And so let's just talk about, like, a worldly love. Talk about what the world says love is. And this used to be me. I was not operating out of a place of true, real, genuine, authentic, deep, deep, sacrificial love. And it's crazy because it's like before you really encounter the love of Jesus, you think you do know what love is like? You do. You think you do. You think you have a good grip of it you think you have a good idea of it, you think you do it well yourself until you meet the the kind of love that Jesus just is, the love that he does. And the depth of God's love will reveal how shallow the love of the world really is of what you thought you were. Operating in such places of depth is actually not deep at all. So worldly love generally refers to an affection or attachment to material possessions, achievements, or the approval of others, rather than a love rooted in faith or spiritual values. This kind of love is focused on self. Worldly love is often described as self centered, where love is given based on how it benefits the individual or fulfills their desires. This type of love also is temporary and conditional. So unlike divine love, which is enduring and unconditional, worldly love is often seen as temporary and dependent on certain conditions or outcomes. And it could even be outside of relationships too. I mean, this can include a love for wealth, power, fame, or even the approval of others. It can also manifest as an obsession with material possessions or a desire to accumulate things for the sake of having them. Okay, this is really cool. This is really cool. Actually, I just found this and it's kind of like a chart where it's saying like godly love versus worldly love. Okay. And we're just going to go down the list. So godly love says love is an action, but worldly love says love is a feeling. Do you know how much I was leaning on my feelings oh my gosh, before I knew the Lord? Like, love was a feeling to me, but it's actually God says it's an action. Love is about those around me. Worldly love says love is all about me. Godly love says love is unconditional. Worldly love says love is based on what you've done for me lately. Love is a commitment. Worldly love says love is a phase. Love is about giving. Worldly love says love is about getting. Love is about serving. Worldly love says love is about receiving. Love is about physical, emotional and spiritual intimacy. Worldly love says it's about sex. Godly love says love focuses on meeting the needs of those around me. Worldly love says love focuses on getting my own needs met. Love works through conflict. Worldly love says love withers in conflict. Ooh. Love is forgiving. Worldly love says love is bitter. Love moves forward. Worldly love says love gets stuck in the past. Love is about transparency. When the world says love is about hiding and covering up. Love is about trust. The world says love is about suspicion. Oh my gosh. Love is about responsibility when in the world love is about blame. Godly love says that love is about peace when the world says love is about anxiety. Of course, this list could go on and on, but these are some of the key contrasts that come to mind. I feel bad when I see people who settle for worldly love. They don't know what they are missing. If you struggle to love in a godly way, I would encourage you to saturate your mind with the Scriptures. Let his truth guide you in your pursuit of authentic love and commitment to loving the way God would want you to love. Another thing that just comes to my mind is like, when we're in the world, it's like the definition of love, of what is love? It's like, well, love is. Love is love is love. Like, love is just love. The thing that I struggle with, with that now, now that I know Jesus and I know the origin of where love really comes from. We can't just define a word by itself. I feel like that's like saying anything else. Where it's like, a phone is a phone. Somebody was like, what is a real phone? A phone is a phone. Phone is a phone. Hair is hair. Mike is Mike. Love is love. But it's like, we can't define a word by itself. It has to have an origin, right? It has to have a source. And so what is love like? What is the origin of love? Where does it actually come from? And so now it's like, oh, no. Like, love is actually something that comes from God. And it says in First John, chapter 4, verse 7, it says, Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God. For God is love. And isn't it crazy that I feel like love for a lot of us is a mystery, right? A lot of our lives is like, what is love? Like, what is true love? What is it? I feel like that's such a huge question for the world and for humanity is like, what is love? We've literally always had the definition of love. We've always had the answer of the source of love. And what, like, true love is actually supposed to look like? Like, the real definition of what love is and what it is supposed to look like has always been available to us right here in this Bible. It's always been available to us. And so it's not that, like, love is whatever you want to make it. It's not that love can be Whatever is comfortable for you or like, whatever serves you. Because I think a lot of us have probably made up our own definitions of love in our lives, and that's just not the truth. Love has an origin and it comes from a source, and that source is God. It says, for God is love. It is the literal reflection of his character and his being, of who he is. I want to read one more piece of scripture here. It's Matthew 22:37, and this is coming straight from Jesus. Jesus replied, you must love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, and all of your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important. Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments. And so now that we've talked about the definition of love, how are we loving God? Through our actions, not just our words. We talked a lot about relationships today, but also I think this is a good time for us to reflect on how do we love God? Do we show up for God and we love him in a way that he first loved us? And it is defined as in the Bible, do we love him that way? Because the word love is being used in this, right? You must love, Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul and all of your mind. It's with everything in us. We are supposed to love God because that's how he loves us. He loves us with everything in Him. So much so that he gave his perfect son to die for us, his sinless son, perfect son to die for us. That's he gave us everything. He gave us everything and continues to give us everything after. Now we've talked about the definition of love, the fruit of love, what it looks like in action. Do we love God? Do we love him well? And then a second is equally important, right? The second commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. Are we loving others this way as ourselves? As we would selfishly put ourselves first and love ourselves and take care of ourselves and do everything for ourselves? But are we loving our neighbors as ourself? Are we putting them before ourselves, in place of ourselves? At the end of the day, y', all, approval from others, success, money, stickers, badges we could put on our shirts, whatever, like, achievements, these things of the world. At the end of it all, none of that really matters. More than loving. That's it. Than loving. I believe the most important question that Jesus is going to ask us when we meet him face to face is he's going to say, did you love, like, real love, not the counterfeit love, not a love that thinks about how they can benefit from the very thing. You know, even when you're sacrificing, even when you're tithing or you're giving, it's like, are we doing it from a place of true selflessness, true sacrifice, when we're giving our time, is it like, oh, well, if I do this, like, it's really going to help my witness, though, and it's going to make me look like I'm a really good Christian and, you know, I'm so reliable. Like, heart posture is everything. And so it's very real, too, that, like, we can do all the right things, even actions of love, but it's like, our heart, too, right? So it's like, did you love well and were your intentions pure? Was it coming from a posture of, like, true selflessness and sacrifice, or were you doing it because it was like, a box checker? But I think that's, like, the most important question that Jesus, probably the first question he'll ask us when we see him, is he's going to say, did you love? Did you love like I love? And I think at the end of it all y', all, that. That is our job. Like, that's our mission here on Earth, is to love people well, to love them unconditionally. And so with all that being said, I feel like we could have talked so much more about this topic, and maybe we will again on the podcast. This is a revelation that probably will never end is like, the depth of his love, it just goes so deep forever and ever. And I don't know if that's something we will ever be able to fully wrap our minds around. But, yeah, I love you guys, and I'm really proud of you, and I am proud of the way that you guys have chosen to already love people. I know that you have, and the Lord sees it, too, and so just keep doing it, and let's just do more of it, if anything. It's like, let's just do more of that. I love y'. All. I'm so proud of you. Thank you for joining me for another episode. Can we do something cool today before we go? Let's do something cool and show somebody how cool Jesus is. Let's walk more like him. Let's talk more like him. Let's love like him. Let's love like Jesus. So much love. Like, a love that's so radical and, like, offensive. The thing is, like, Jesus's love is so offensive. It doesn't make sense. Sense. It initiates, you know? So, like, let's be offensive in the way that we love people. That's the only way I'm trying to offend people is in the way that I love through Jesus, through the overflow of receiving his love and then sharing and pouring out that love to other people. It might be offensive sometimes. People might be like, what is that? But I challenge y' all to do that. Let's just love, like, really hard. Okay, you guys, I love you, and I will see you in the next episode. Bye. Are some of y' all still listening? Okay, if you're still here, that means you're a real one, which is why I'm about to share this with you. If you've already caught up on all the episodes so far and you don't want to wait until next Friday for a new one, I have really good news for you. 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