jn_en_2020_01_27
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to people, for example when we perform a piece of music. That also can give a lot of | to people, for example when we perform a piece of music. That also can give a lot of | ||
pleasure. | pleasure. | ||
- | + | ||
+ | There are many people on this planet, and we usually sympathize with some of them. | ||
+ | It is good to find company of people with similar interests, which enjoy the same things | ||
+ | you enjoy. It is good to find friends and colleagues who are supportive and love | ||
+ | to work constructively with you. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It is good to enjoy good things in life. All what is God has given to us, to use it and to | ||
+ | enjoy it. The bible calls us to enjoy this creation! But it also calls us to think | ||
+ | beyond the mere strive for pleasure. It calls us to even think beyond mere human | ||
+ | friendship and love. | ||
{{ 2020: | {{ 2020: | ||
- | ** ... ** | + | ** Love in the Center |
- | + | What is in the center of life? What is it that can be a strong joy to us, which is deep | |
+ | and sustainable and will never end? It is love itself. Love is the core of all what is, | ||
+ | it is the core of this creation, it is the core of God himself! | ||
+ | |||
+ | In his famous letter to the Korinthians, | ||
+ | role of love for us: | ||
< | < | ||
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. | If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. | ||
2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. | 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. | ||
- | 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned,[1] but have not love, I gain nothing. | + | 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. |
</ | </ | ||
+ | The background of these verses can be found in the character and consistence of God himself. God | ||
+ | is called love. He is love himself, since he is community himself. It is the community of father, | ||
+ | son and holy spirit. And this community is characterized by complete trust, complete truth, | ||
+ | complete purity. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Life needs to be filled by love, which comes from the creator. Only he is eternal, and only with | ||
+ | him and in him we gain the perspective, | ||
+ | which is not driven by love, cannot be sustained. Any relationship, | ||
+ | love, cannot be completely good. The biblical idea is to transform our life to something | ||
+ | which has love in each of its components, since it has God in it everywhere and all the time. | ||
+ | |||
+ | God is fine with our joy about various pleasures in this world. The bible does not object good | ||
+ | things, it only objects things which take the place of God. If our pleasure starts to be | ||
+ | the determining center of our life, it becomes a burden to us, which will finally kill us. If | ||
+ | our talent, or our friends, our our partnership, | ||
+ | it has a devastating effect on us. It is stealing our life! | ||
+ | There is joy beyond the superficial pleasure which we search so often. There is depth in all | ||
+ | things which we do. We need to find it, to transform all our actions, our talent, our friendship and our relationships to be filled with the love of God. This love of the | ||
+ | eternal creator brings joy. It is a fantastic light, | ||
+ | deep, warm, clear ... and eternal! Let us find it and nurture it, day by day. | ||
(Roland Potthast) | (Roland Potthast) | ||
jn_en_2020_01_27.1580102398.txt.gz · Last modified: 2020/01/27 06:19 by potthast