The Feeling of Love
by Ivan Ho 4 Aug 2024
When it comes to LOVE, the most well known scriptures amongst evangelicals is perhaps the following:
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
I Corinthians 13:4-8 NKJV
From my experience with churches over the years, this scripture is not being mentioned much amongst charismatic preachers, probably because of the last verse regarding prophesies and tongues (which most evangelicals have little experience in).
It’s not that the charismatic believers don’t like to talk about love. Most do, but usually their emphasis is on how God loves everyone without any qualification (universal love regardless of their belief systems and behaviours).
It would seem to them that Love has no quality, no characteristics. As long as they “feel” that God loves them, that’s most important to them. So when one no longer feels God’s love, or God’s presence, they would go to some ministries or churches where they can find that loving feeling. If they don’t feel God’s presence, they would go somewhere else, or someone else, to find it.
I am not playing down the power of the Holy Spirit upon our lives at all. We need the Holy Spirit to come upon us and fill us with his presence and power from time to time. Jesus told his disciples to wait in the upper room for the Holy Spirit to come upon them. Notice what Jesus says: “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea, in Samaria, and unto the ends of the world” (Acts 1:8). Jesus didn’t say:”You shall receive love when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”. Instead, he says: ” the Holy Spirit shall come upon you to give you power to be my witnesses”. We don’t need the touch of the Holy Spirit to feel God’s presence but we need the Holy Spirit to empower us to do God’s works, to guide us and teach us the truth of God’s words.
Peter asked Jesus three times after His resurrection: “Lord, do you love me?”. He has been with Jesus for three years but he still wasn’t sure that Jesus loved him. Some of us are like Peter who need to see God show up personally and say to us: “I love you, dear!” before we believe God does love us. Even after Jesus shows mankind how much he loves us by dying on the cross for us, we still need to get some assurance.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
There is an unusual phenomenon amongst some people in the body of Christ, that they need to constantly “feel” the presence of God. They seem to be always looking for the touch of the Holy Spirit to give them some sort of emotional experiences and sensations. If you have such inclination, I’ve got news for you: Even if you don’t feel the presence of God, He is still present. Even if you can’t see God, He can still see you.
If you’re reading my words but you don’t see me, presumably I don’t exist? God’s words are in the bible. If you care to open the bible and start to read his words, you’ll know that God is present and speaking to you! Not only that, you get to know him as who he is, what he says and what he does, not just getting some fuzzy feelings about “the presence of God”.
Thomas needed to feel the nail holes of Jesus before he would believe that Jesus was risen from the dead. Having touched his master’s nail holes on his wrists, he bowed down and exclaimed: “My Lord and my God!“. Jesus said to him: “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are they who haven’t seen and yet have believed“.
Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.
John 20:29 KJV
Some people have the tendency to reduce God to some sort of signs and physical manifestations, thinking that if they can see manifestations, God shows up, otherwise God is not present.
Do you know that signs are for unbelievers rather than for believers? Some people need to see miraculous signs before they would believe in the existence of God. I remember one afternoon at university, I was handing out some leaflets outside the library about some ‘signs and wonders’ meetings we are having with a guest speaker. An Indian student came up to me and said: “Do you believe God works miracles?” to which I replied: “Yes I do”. He then said to me: ” If your God can work miracles, tell him to make the library doors open”. You see, some people think that God is some sort of magician or genie whom we can command to do whatever we want him to do.
I believe in signs and wonders and divine healings. I have prayed for people and seen them being healed miraculously in the name of Jesus. But I have also prayed for individuals and they ended up dying and gone to be with the Lord. Does God not love them? They are in the loving arms of God for heavens sake!
1 Corinthians 13 never talks about love being some sort of feelings or some kind of physical manifestations. Rather, it says “Love is patient, love is kind… Love does not envy… it does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth….. “.
Prophesies, however important they are, will fail. Tongues, however powerful they are, will cease.
Love never fails