"Love is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival." C.S. Lewis
"No man has learned to live until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. Length without breadth is like a self contained tributary having no outward flow to the ocean. Stagnant, still, and stale it lacks both life and freshness. In order to live creatively and meaningfully, our self-concern must be wedded to other concerns." Martin Luther King Jr.
"Love, for therein lies true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is oft done well." Vincent van Gogh
“As affecting as is the image of terrorists crashing into buildings in an effort to take as many lives as possible, the image of firemen rushing into those same buildings in an effort to save as many lives as possible is more affecting still. The worst that evil can do is no match for the best that love can do. Love never fails--ultimately it can overcome every obstacle and solve every dilemma.” Tristan Gylberd
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ReplyDeleteLove is the fulfillment of the law.
ReplyDelete(Romans 13:10)
...and though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, AND (IF) I HAVE NOT LOVE, I AM NOTHING. ...For now we see in a mirror dimly; but then face to face. Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abides faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
- Paul the Apostle
(1 Corinthians 13:2; 12-13)
If you love me, keep my commandments.
- Jesus Christ
(John 14:15)
"In a life lived as by members of one single body, let each perform his part faithfully. Let love rule all your relations one to another, and to those outside, even to your enemies. Do not regard the Emperor as outside the scope of love, but obey his laws and pay his taxes. Yes, and pay all debts to every one. Love is, in fact, the one comprehensive debt of man to man. If you love your neighbour as yourself, you have fulfilled the whole moral law. But be in earnest about things, for the better day is already dawning. (Rom. 12:1-13:14)"
- John Owen
"True love likes to become familiar with the object of its affection; its heart is set upon that object, it studies it, and can never know it too well or too closely. True love to Christ thinks of Him from morning till night; it is glad to be released from other thoughts that it may follow only its one darling pursuit."
- Charles Haddon Spurgeon
"All the graces of Christianity always go together. They so go together that where there is one, there are all, and where one is wanting, all are wanting. Where there is faith, there are love, and hope, and humility; and where there is love, there is also trust; and where there is a holy trust in God; there is love to God; and where there is a gracious hope, there also is a holy fear of God."
- Jonathan Edwards
"We shall benefit very much from the Sacrament if this thought has been impressed and engraved upon our minds that none of the brethren can be injured, despised, rejected, abused, or in any way offended by us, without [our] injuring, despising, and abusing Christ by the wrongs we do; that we cannot disagree with our brethren without at the same time disagreeing with Christ; that we cannot love Christ without loving Him in the brethren; that we ought to take the same care of our brethren's bodies as we take of our own; for they are members of our body; and that, as no part of our body is touched by any feeling of pain which is not spread among all the rest, so we ought not to allow a brother to be affected by any evil, without being touched with compassion for him."
"Assuredly there is but one way in which to achieve what is not merely difficult but utterly against human nature: to love those who hate us, to repay their evil deeds with benefits, to return blessings for reproaches. It is that we remember not to consider men's evil intention but to look upon the image of God in them, which cancels and effaces their transgressions, and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them."
- John Calvin