What the Bible says about Loving Mankind
(From Forerunner Commentary)
Thesemen feared that, if they committed themselves to loving God, they would lose the approbation of their religious peers. If they stepped out, they would lose what they already had. So it kept them from loving God, and of course, it kept them from loving man too because God would have given them growth if they had continued yielding to Him.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Love's Greatest ChallengesRelated Topics: Approbation of Peers | Fear of Loss | Fear of Loss to our Ego | Love's Greatest Challenges | Loving Brother | Loving Mankind | Peer pressure | Yielding to God
Thesemen feared that, if they committed themselves to loving God, they would lose the approbation of their religious peers. If they stepped out, they would lose what they already had. So it kept them from loving God, and of course, it kept them from loving man too because God would have given them growth if they had continued yielding to Him.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Love's Greatest ChallengesRelated Topics: Approbation of Peers | Fear of Man | Love's Greatest Challenges | Loving God | Loving Mankind | Peer pressure | Spiritual Growth | Spiritual Maturity | Yielding to God
Love, power, soundmindedness—these qualities of God's Spirit. Love's greatest challenges are to overcome laziness and fear. There is no way around them; they must be met and conquered. God has given us the Spirit to enable us, but we have to be willing to put ourselves on the line, to stir ourselves up, and risk losing some part of this human nature. We must quit protecting it.
Hebrews 13:5 tells us that God will never leave us, never forsake us, that He is always our Helper. We are admonished, then, to be content. Contentment has its foundation in knowing God. We can never reach that point unless we put ourselves out to love Him and challenge this fear, to overcome the inertia and entropy that is working in everybody's life. That is where the hard work comes in, challenging the fear and the laziness.
If we are willing to do this on a day-to-day basis and put aside our fears and make the effort, our confidence in Him will grow. The fear will dissolve, diligence will cause discipline to appear, and we will meet our responsibilities in loving God and loving men.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Love's Greatest ChallengesRelated Topics: Diligence | Entropy | Fear | Hard Work | Inertia | Laziness | Love | Love's Greatest Challenges | Loving God | Loving Mankind | Overcoming Entropy | Power | Sound Mind | Sound Mindedness