"and to KNOW this love that surpasses KNOWLEDGE-
that you may be filled to the measure of all the
fullness of God."
-Ephesians 3:19
Know a love that surpasses knowledge? Have any of you been puzzled by this verse? How can you know a love that surpasses knowledge? It is because the knowing that is spoken of in this verse is an experiential knowledge in contrast to the knowledge of the brain.
The key to fighting earthly love is experiencing sacred love.
Well how do we experience sacred love?
Misconception: KNOWING the love of God is an act of the brain. False. It is an act of the heart. This knowledge is an experiential knowledge so it is meant to be lived out in the heart. When people go about living out the love of God with brains, arguments, and logic they end up relying on what knowledge the world has given them about love and then they approach God with an earthly love. This is another example of blurring the lines between earthly and sacred love. We are not meant to rely on what culture teaches us about love. We are meant to rely on the love God has for us (1 John 4:16).
Well how do we experience the love of God on our hearts?
"And hope does not disappoint us,
because God has poured out His love
into our hearts by the Holy Spirit,
whom He has given us."
-Romans 5:5
Have you ever thought of love being something almost supernatural? Thats because it is. God pours out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Think about it like this: In Ephesians 3:19, we see that the love of God is so much that we can't comprehend it because it surpasses our knowledge. And we know what love is because Jesus Christ laid down his life for us (1 John 3:16). This is the Gospel! Upon our belief of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38). The Holy Sprit works on our hearts so we can experience the love of God rather than try to grasp it with our minds. This is how we know the love that surpasses knowledge.
Think about it in another way: In 1 John 3:1, it says that we know the love of God because we are called His children. Well in Romans 8:16, it says the Spirit testifies that we are God's children. Therefore, we know and experience the love of God because the Holy Spirit allows it. He allows us to comprehend the love that surpasses knowledge.
Therefore, love is the manifestation of the Spirit on the heart.
Now this whole time I've been talking about the heart, but I've been neglecting the relationship between the heart and the brain. There is a cause and effect relationship between the heart and the brain. Think about it: we like someone with our heart after our mind first decides to like that person. We use an object after our mind has first decided to buy it. The brain is the cause, the heart is the effect. God's love being poured into our hearts is a response of our mind's decision to believe in Christ.
"The Spirit clearly says that in later times
some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving
spirits and things taught by demons."
-1 Timothy 4:1
Earthly love is a faithless love of pleasure and deceiving spirits. We are deceived and taught through our brain. Therefore, earthly love speaks to our brains while sacred love speaks to our hearts. Thats why in 2 Corinthians 4:4 it says the god of this age has blinded the MINDS of unbelievers. Now Satan is smart, even though a lot of us might think he's stupid. He uses earthly love to speak right to the cause so the effect doesn't happen.
Lets rewind back to the first post. Back to when earthly love was first introduced into the world. The moment when Eve was deceived by Satan. Her perception about the fruit was changed in that one moment and she embraced earthly love. A lot of fighting the battle between earthly and sacred love has to do with the manipulation of our perception. Let me give you an example.
"For everything God created is good,
and nothing is to be rejected
if it is received with thanksgiving."
-1 Timothy 4:4
Everything God created is good and nothing should be rejected because since everything God created is good then it should be used to bring praise to Him. It depends on our perception.
Does anyone find it funny that Adam and Eve hid behind God's creation after they had sinned (Gen. 3:8)? The trees were created to bring praise to God, yet it was desecrated in that one moment because then Adam and Eve perceived it to be a good hiding spot. Everything God created is good and it is not to be rejected if we give praise to God through His creation. Our sinful perceptions granted to us by deceiving spirits is what keeps us from seeing God's manifestation of love through creation. It is earthly love speaking to our minds.
"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind . . ."
-Romans 12:2
Lets renew our minds so earthly love can't speak to it anymore. Once we renew our minds, we will walk in sacred love (2 John 1:6) just as it was done in the beginning. Lets renew our love.
God's love is a sacrificial love. Therefore, God's love isn't so much of emotion but rather a love of action. He loved us so much that He GAVE His Son (John 3:16). So we are called to have a love of action.
Think about it: much about love is movement. That's why in 2 Corinthians 5:14 it says Christ's love COMPELS us. This is why we do missions, charity, evangelism, etc. etc.! Because love moves us.
This is why faith without action is dead (James 2:17): because by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit we are being conformed to share in the glory of Christ (2 Thess. 2:13-14). And we see that God's and Christ's love is action. Then through our true faith or perception of Christ in the Gospel, the Spirit would manifest itself on our hearts so we would emulate this action-love. Action is the justification of love and faith.
There is an expectation of God on our lives. 1 John 4:16-17 says love is being made complete in us because in this world we are like Him. Love is becoming our condition because love and responding to love with action is what makes us like Him on the earth. Love is the expression of God on this earth.
So are we going to align ourselves with culture's definition of love or God's definition of love? Only through God's definition of love are we able to experience love. It is this sacred love that allows us to experience love. It is sacred love that allows us to be conformed to His likeness. It is sacred love that was present in the beginning. So let us therefore renew ourselves back into God's definition of love and fulfill the expectation of God on our lives by living out a life of sacred love.
"My purpose is that they may be
encouraged in heart and united in love,
so that they may have the full riches of
complete understanding, in order that they
may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,
in whom are hidden all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge."
-Colossians 2:2
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