s with different meanings, which led me to think about the word “love.” Did you know that in ancient Greek there are at least four different words that when translated to English are all translated as “love.” Each word communicates a different nuance or aspect to this incredibly rich concept that we call “love”: passionate love, natural affection, brotherly love or friendship and unconditional, self-sacrificial love (see C.S. Lewis’ “The Four Loves” for an in depth treatment). Three of these different terms appear in the New Testament (which was of course originally written in a Greek dialect), all but erotic love are used in some form or another. It reminds me of the depth that the word love can carry. Love is definitely a central theme in the New Testament. We are called to love God and love our neighbour, love our enemies, love each other. Husbands and wives are called to love each other. We are told that God so loved the world he sent his only Son, and perhaps the most profound use of the term comes when the Apostle John declares that “God is Love” ( 1 John 4:8). This devotional page is not the place to delve into each occurrence of the word, to see which Greek word is used and to create an in depth analysis. I do hope, however, to encourage us to consider this word, often used so lightly by our culture, and to search its true depth. There really is a depth and richness worth mining, worth meditating upon and exploring. I pray that we all might be enriched as we begin to understand more fully who God is, what God has done and continues to do, our relationship with Him, who we are, and what we are called to do.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Which Snowbird???
As I was reminded last week by a friend, when you say Snowbird to a Canadian the first question in return might be “which snowbird?” It can mean any number of different things. It could be the aerobatics team or it could could actually be an ornithological reference. It could mean someone who travels south during the winter to escape the snow and cold, or it could be the title of Anne Murray’s (a Canadian icon in her own right) most famous song (written by Gene MacLellan). It got me thinking about word
s with different meanings, which led me to think about the word “love.” Did you know that in ancient Greek there are at least four different words that when translated to English are all translated as “love.” Each word communicates a different nuance or aspect to this incredibly rich concept that we call “love”: passionate love, natural affection, brotherly love or friendship and unconditional, self-sacrificial love (see C.S. Lewis’ “The Four Loves” for an in depth treatment). Three of these different terms appear in the New Testament (which was of course originally written in a Greek dialect), all but erotic love are used in some form or another. It reminds me of the depth that the word love can carry. Love is definitely a central theme in the New Testament. We are called to love God and love our neighbour, love our enemies, love each other. Husbands and wives are called to love each other. We are told that God so loved the world he sent his only Son, and perhaps the most profound use of the term comes when the Apostle John declares that “God is Love” ( 1 John 4:8). This devotional page is not the place to delve into each occurrence of the word, to see which Greek word is used and to create an in depth analysis. I do hope, however, to encourage us to consider this word, often used so lightly by our culture, and to search its true depth. There really is a depth and richness worth mining, worth meditating upon and exploring. I pray that we all might be enriched as we begin to understand more fully who God is, what God has done and continues to do, our relationship with Him, who we are, and what we are called to do.
s with different meanings, which led me to think about the word “love.” Did you know that in ancient Greek there are at least four different words that when translated to English are all translated as “love.” Each word communicates a different nuance or aspect to this incredibly rich concept that we call “love”: passionate love, natural affection, brotherly love or friendship and unconditional, self-sacrificial love (see C.S. Lewis’ “The Four Loves” for an in depth treatment). Three of these different terms appear in the New Testament (which was of course originally written in a Greek dialect), all but erotic love are used in some form or another. It reminds me of the depth that the word love can carry. Love is definitely a central theme in the New Testament. We are called to love God and love our neighbour, love our enemies, love each other. Husbands and wives are called to love each other. We are told that God so loved the world he sent his only Son, and perhaps the most profound use of the term comes when the Apostle John declares that “God is Love” ( 1 John 4:8). This devotional page is not the place to delve into each occurrence of the word, to see which Greek word is used and to create an in depth analysis. I do hope, however, to encourage us to consider this word, often used so lightly by our culture, and to search its true depth. There really is a depth and richness worth mining, worth meditating upon and exploring. I pray that we all might be enriched as we begin to understand more fully who God is, what God has done and continues to do, our relationship with Him, who we are, and what we are called to do.
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