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Love Is a Choice
by Rick Warren 2008/11/25
That you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30:20 (NIV)
"주 당신들의 하나님을 사랑하십시오. 그의 말씀을 들으며 그를 따르십시오. 그러면 당신들이 살 것입니다. 주님께서 당신들의 조상 아브라함과 이삭과 야곱에게 주시겠다고 맹세하신 그 땅에서 당신들이 잘 살 것입니다."(신명기 30장 20절)
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Love is a choice and a commitment. You choose to love or you choose not to love.
Today we ve brought into this myth that love is uncontrollable, that it's something that just happens to us; it s not something we control. In fact, even the language we use implies the uncontrollability of love. We say, I fell in love, as if love is some kind of a ditch. It s like I'm walking along one day and bam! I fell in love. I couldn t help myself.
But I have to tell you the truth that's not love. Love doesn't just happen to you. Love is a choice and it represents a commitment.
There's no doubt about it, attraction is uncontrollable and arousal is uncontrollable. But attraction and arousal are not love. They can lead to love, but they are not love. Love is a choice.
You must choose to love God; he won't force you to love him (Deuteronomy 30:20). You can thumb your nose at God and go a totally different way. You can destroy your life if you choose to do that. God still won't force you to love him. Because he knows love can't be forced.
And this same principle is true about your relationships: you can choose to love others, but God won't force you to love anyone.
© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.
We Love Because God Loves Us
by Rick Warren 2008/11/24
We love because he first loved us. 1 John 4:19 (NIV)
"우리가 사랑하는 것은 하나님께서 먼저 우리를 사랑해 주셨기 때문입니다."(요한1서 4장 19절)
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The reason God wants us to love is because he is love, and he created us to be like him to love. The only reason we are able to love is because God loves us: Love comes from God because God is love (1 John 4:7-8 NIV).
"사랑하는 여러분, 서로 사랑합시다. 사랑은 하나님에게서 왔습니다. 사랑하는 사람은 모두 하나님에게서 나서 하나님을 알지만 사랑하지 않는 사람은 하나님을 모릅니다. 이것은 하나님이 사랑이시기 때문입니다."(요한1서 4장 7-8절)
We were created in God s image to do two things on earth: Learn to love God and learn to love other people; life is all about love.
But love all started with God. He loved us first and that gives us the ability to love others (1 John 4:19). The only reason you can love God or love anybody else is because God first loved you. And he showed that love by sending Jesus Christ to earth to die for you. He showed that love by creating you. He showed that love by everything you have in life; it s all a gift of God s love.
In order to love others and to become great lovers, we first need to understand and feel how much God loves us. We don t want to just talk about love, read about love, or discuss about love; our need is to experience the love of God.
We need to reach a day when we finally, fully understand how God loves us completely and unconditionally. We need to become secure in the truth that we cannot make God stop loving us.
Once we are secure inside God's unconditional love, we'll start cutting people a lot of slack. We won't be as angry as we have been. We'll be more patient. We'll be more forgiving. We'll be more merciful. We'll give others grace.
But you cannot give to others what you have not received yourself, and so my hope is that, as you learn how much God loves you, you'll also let him heal your heart so that his love can flow freely through you. It s impossible to love others until you really feel loved yourself.
© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.
Love Is a Choice
by Rick Warren
That you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Deuteronomy 30:20 (NIV)
*** *** *** ***
Love is a choice and a commitment. You choose to love or you choose not to love.
Today we ve brought into this myth that love is uncontrollable, that it's something that just happens to us; it s not something we control. In fact, even the language we use implies the uncontrollability of love. We say, I fell in love, as if love is some kind of a ditch. It s like I'm walking along one day and bam! I fell in love. I couldn t help myself.
But I have to tell you the truth that's not love. Love doesn't just happen to you. Love is a choice and it represents a commitment.
There's no doubt about it, attraction is uncontrollable and arousal is uncontrollable. But attraction and arousal are not love. They can lead to love, but they are not love. Love is a choice.
You must choose to love God; he won't force you to love him (Deuteronomy 30:20). You can thumb your nose at God and go a totally different way. You can destroy your life if you choose to do that. God still won't force you to love him. Because he knows love can't be forced.
And this same principle is true about your relationships: you can choose to love others, but God won't force you to love anyone.
© 2008 Purpose Driven Life. All rights reserved.
Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America's largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church, which was named one of the 100 Christian books that changed the 20th Century. He is also founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community for ministers. ------------- ----------- -------------
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