In both of the commandments which God calls all encompassing, there is the command “to love.” “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-39). Unfortunately, in our language, the word “love” is used to mean many things. We love everything. We love our pets. We love our favorite foods. We love our days off. We love our families and our cars. We mean we like them very much or they give us a good feeling. Sometimes we really mean we love them. Sometimes we even mean we really “worship” them and they control much of our lives.  God states that the accomplishment of  pleasing him is found in obedience (John 14:15) and that correct obedience of all of his commandments is contained in these two. In both, the commandment is “to love.” In the original language of the Bible, God used several words to cover our different uses of the word “love.”  The Greek word used in the passages containing the commandments we are to follow is “agapao.”  This is a very interesting and specific word which, when understood, leaves little doubt about what God wants and expects from his people, if they are to please him. To understand exactly and completely what this word means, it is best to

Christ A Kite Whom Men Fly, Not The Rock Upon Whom We Stand Here is a striking quotation: “There is an Athenian love of novelty abroad, and a morbid distaste for anything old and regular, and in the beaten paths of our forefathers. Thousands will crowd to hear a new voice and a new doctrine without considering for a moment whether what they hear is true. There is an incessant craving after any teaching, which is sensational, and exciting, and rousing to the feelings. There is an unhealthy appetite for a sort of spasmodic and hysterical Christianity. . . .The whole tone of men’s minds on what constitutes practical Christianity seems lowered. The old golden standard of the behavior, which becomes a Christian man or woman, appears debased and degenerated. The tendency of modern thought is to reject dogmas, creeds, and every kind of boundary in religion. It is thought grand and wise to condemn no opinion whatsoever, and to pronounce all earnest and clever teachers to be all these. Mighty foundation-stones are coolly tossed overboard like lumber, in order to lighten the ship of Christianity, and enable it to keep pace with modern science. Stand up for these great verities and you are called narrow, illiberal, old-fashioned, and a theological fossil!” When do you think these words were written? Were they penned by a faithful modern preacher, lamenting the glitz and guile of the contemporary Church Growth Movement? In fact, the words were written by J.C. Ryle more than