Words of Love and Life

"He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal." -John 12:25

phileó: to love
Original Word: φιλέω
Definition: I love (of friendship), regard with affection, cherish; I kiss.

miseó: to hate
Original Word: μισέω
Definition: I hate, detest, love less, esteem less.

psuché: breath, the soul
Original Word: ψυχή, ῆς, ἡ
Definition: (a) the vital breath, breath of life, (b) the human soul, (c) the soul as the seat of affections and will, (d) the self, (e) a human person, an individual.

"For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'" -Galatians 5:14

seautou: of (to, for) yourself
Original Word: σεαυτοῦ, ῆς, οῦ
Definition: of yourself.

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I hate my life in this world because I do not love my neighbor as I love myself. But if I hate my life, how can I love myself? And if I do not love myself, how can I love my neighbor likewise? Can I hate my life without hating myself?

It seems that self and life must be separated. My life cannot be my own. My self is all I am, along with the dross of sin and death. It is another life I am given to love, namely that of Christ, who also freely imparts His life to me and Who refines me with fire.

How can I know how to love my neighbor as myself when I cannot understand what loving myself really is, or means?

Actually, that is a love I know, because Christ Himself loves me in this way [yet the world for "love" when it comes to Christ Jesus is more commonly spoken of as "agape," a love that takes action.]

So then, it is not so much what I know, but Who knows me, and Who it is who works love in and through me by grace alone.

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Enough Already

"There's not enough repentance going on here."
"There's not enough catechesis going on here."

That'll fix things. Not.

Repentance and catechesis - while they may rightly be spoken of - left to themselves become cold, abstract truths if merely pointed out as a means to an end. Pointing out the obvious does not a remedy make, although I suppose it could serve as a way of agitating souls.

Where Christ is, however, is everything that matters, even the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life. He does not, and cannot, lead into immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. He does, however, lead to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

The latter are not practices any person is able to turn on and off like a faucet. Rather they spring from Christ as He is preached and administered bodily in every corner of the world, even as God has sent preachers into all the world.

It is the part of faith, when faced with a world run amok both inside and out, to receive the Word of the Lord which says, "Be still, and know that I am God." It is not the part of faith to cobble up demands of faithfulness no man can fill of his own accord.

It is the part of love, when faced with people who sin and err, first to upbraid and admonish them in private, and even this is done with a full view toward one's own sin and weakness. It is not the part of love to refrain from such counsel out of a fear of rejection, and so it is, once again, Christ Himself Who must be at work for anyone ever to will and to do what is good and right.

We live by the Spirit. We walk by the Spirit. We have no room to become boastful, challenging one another, or envying one another. So we depend from one moment to the next on the same Lord who has taught us to pray: "Let Your Name be kept holy among us, and lead us in Your paths."

This happens most concretely in Baptism, Preaching, Holy Communion, and any other occasion where the pure Word of God is, by His grace and favor, brought to bear on poor sinners.

There really is no other way for a Christian to live than by a faith that apprehends the living Christ,and such faith cannot be found apart from His Word.

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A Short Didactic

Sunday School, Bible Class, Confirmation, Vacation Bible School: Why didn't the early Church think these up? Because they learned liturgically and were - literally - recipients of the body and blood of Christ.

You see, a disciple is not just a recipient of so much accumulated information, but has one's entire life and being joined to a crucified and risen Christ by way of Baptism, Bread from Heaven, The Lord's Supper, Absolution, Christ Himself.

True enough, instruction attends to this relationship, but it is not parceled out into so many classes and levels of knowledge. It is imparted through preaching, teaching, and sacraments administered by Christ through His called and ordained servants. It is imparted fully and completely.

Wherever there is clear and pure preaching and sacraments, the Holy Spirit is calling, gathering, enlightening, and sanctifying the Christian Church on earth. It's been that way from the beginning and it will continue till the end of time as we know it.

It takes place in many forms, including Sunday School, Bible Class, Confirmation, and Vacation Bible School. But it does *not* take place independently. You can't "be your own man" and be a Christian at the same time.

Just like life itself, this eternal life is handed down, meted out, imparted, and given fully on the one hand, but apprehended weakly until such time as what has been hidden is revealed. Christians call it "the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come."

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