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St. Augustine describes the appearance of love: “It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.” Love is also the great healer. It heals conflict, hatred, and injustice and as Martin Luther King Jnr. said, “Darkness can not drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”Self love, esteem, worth, etc are matters of the spirit and personality - that are foundations for how we live our lives.What is the description of self-love Christians are expected to have for themselves and their neighbors?Another issue, what is meant by this in a society where self love is low or rare (and why wasn't that considered when Jesus said this)?Before getting into the details of what I've been taught on the subject, for those that don't know, we should first establish the three types of love in common Christian teaching. They are based on the Greek words used that are commonly translated as love.phileo - properly, to show warm affection in intimate friendship, characterized by tender, heartfelt consideration and kinship.agape - properly, love which centers in moral preference. So too in secular ancient Greek, 26 (agápē) focuses on preference; likewise the verb form (25 /agapáō) in antiquity meant "to prefer"Agape love is considered the purest form of love. To prefer another is to put their needs ahead of your own, and to esteem them higher than others. It is the type of love that we are to have for others, but it's the rarest. It's the type of love that motivates us to willingly lose our lives for those that we love. A parent sacrificing their life so save a child, for example, or Christ's love for us.The word that's translated as "love" here is the agape love.Given that, the principle is that we are to put our neighbors first - to prefer them the way we normally prefer ourselves.You mentioned in the question that there is little self-love these days. That depends entirely on how you define love. Of the three forms, eros and phileos deal with how we feel. Agape deals with how we behave toward another. Agape love is a choice and an action, while the other two are simply feelings, which can change. Generally speaking, agape love is unconditional, and the other two are conditional. We feel them because being with someone makes us feel good. When we no longer feel those feelings, we say we fall out of love.It's this understanding of love that prompts the phrase "Love is a choice, not a feeling".When you think about it, for the most of us, barring those that are filled with enough self-loathing to resort to self-mutilation or suicide, most of us put our own needs first most of the time, even if we don't particularly feel good about ourselves.We eat, rather than starve. We fight to survive in life-threatening situations. We value our own opinions over other people's opinions. We'd rather have our own way, even if we let others have theirs. In general, whether we do so outwardly we think more about our own needs than we do about the needs of others. In short, we are selfish. It's human nature.And we these things because because we value ourselves. Whether we like to admit it or not, we prefer ourselves over others most of the time. Just like we prefer ourselves over God. "I don't feel like going to Church. I have too much to do to waste time in prayer", etc.This verse speaks to that and says "Don't be like that. Instead of saying I'd love to help you move, but I have to (Fill in the blank) Instead of thinking of what you want to do, think of your neighbor's needs and prefer (agape love) them. Help them at your own sacrifice."The one who says "Can I help you" when they have something else they'd rather be doing, even (or especially) if what they'd rather be doing is a true need is preferring (agape loving) their neighbor as he would love himself.
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Download Love Pictures Lolove Pictures For Her For Him To Draw Tumblr For MySpace Animated For Facebook Download
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Download Love Pictures Lolove Pictures For Her For Him To Draw Tumblr For MySpace Animated For Facebook Download
Download Love Pictures Lolove Pictures For Her For Him To Draw Tumblr For MySpace Animated For Facebook Download
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