Love Is The Answer – Part 2
9. God doesn’t want us to tame our affection of love but rather give it supremely to Him since:
9.1. This is the only way to avoid idolatry (what we are guilty of when give it supremely to someone other than God since this is what we now worship) and disappointment (what we set ourselves up for when we give it supremely to someone other than God since the persons/things of this world will fail/betray us at times). “But my sin was this, that I looked for pleasure, beauty, and truth not in Him but in myself and His other creatures, and the search led me instead to pain, confusion, and error.” – St. Augustine
9.2. This is also required to fulfill the greatest commandment and inherit eternal life (Mar 12:20 – “heart, soul, mind and strength” = to the maximum w/all your faculties including your emotions; “phileo” love = Luk 10:25-27; 1Co 16:22).
9.3. This is necessary to fulfilling our prescribed time of discipleship (Deu 6:5-8 – “phylacteries” = littles boxes containing pieces of God’s Word tied on left arm next to the heart and on forehead next to the brain during the time of discipleship [morning prayer/meditation on Scripture] meant to symbolize the reception of God’s Word in our minds and affections).
9.4. This is how we become the kind of faithful, committed, obedient-to-death people that we are called to be even when it hurts/is hard/we don’t feel like it (Joh 21:15-19 = Peter has denied Jesus 3x and gone back to fishing. Jesus secures Peter’s commitment unto death by est’g his affection – “Do you ‘phileo’ Me? [“Feed My sheep”; 18-19]; Phi 2:1-8 = “affection” for Christ gives us the ability to be obedient to God’s commands “to the point of death”; Mat 10:37 – “phileo” = Our affection for Jesus must be greater than for our family if we are to be counted worthy of heaven – NO DOUBT b/c it is only those possessing such affection who wb committed to the end; *we know this tb true based on the commitment such affection produces for our children/spouses “in sickness and health”).