Ben Fourie
… I may have all the faith needed to move mountains – but if I have no love, I am nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:2c, GNT
One day, a student went to his professor and raised an objection because his examination paper was not corrected. This professor was notorious for giving strange marks if your work was not up to standard. He would easily give you a nought or even a minus if he determined that you had not done your best. In the case of this student, the professor told him that he had corrected the paper, but judged the work to be of such poor quality that a nought or even a minus was too good a mark. So, he gave the student nothing.
Every time I read 1 Corinthians 13, I am reminded of this story. To be nothing is worse than a nought or even a minus. If I have no love, said Paul, I am nothing. The story of the Bible is a story of love. In the Old Testament, there are two words that are mostly used for love: ahavah and hesed.
In the New Testament, we have four words: agape, philia, eros and storge. We are not going to give a specific meaning to each of these words other than how they depict God’s love for us, our love for him, our love for each other, love for members of our family and even sexual love for another person. A beautiful example of the latter is the Song of Solomon, also known as the Song of Songs.
Most important is the fact that according to a concordance of the Bible, words like love, to love and other related words appear nearly seven hundred times in the Bible. Even the Ten Commandments are from start to finish concerned with love; every commandment is based on the principle of love.
That is why Jesus summarised the law in the words we read in Matthew 22:37-40: “ 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and the most important commandment. The second most important commandment is like it: 'Love your neighbour as you love yourself.' The whole Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Prayer: Lord, many times I am so worried that I might be nothing, because my love for you and for my neighbour falls so far short of what it should be. Please help me overcome this worry. Amen
Ben Fourie
... al het ek al die geloof om berge te versit, maar ek het nie liefde nie, is ek niks! 1 Korinthiërs 13:2b
'n Student het een dag by sy professor beswaar gemaak omdat sy vraestel nie nagesien is nie. Die betrokke professor was berug daarvoor, dat as jou werk nie op standaard is nie, hy jou maklik 'n nul of selfs 'n minus punt gegee het. In die betrokke student se geval was daar egter geen punt op die vraestel aangedui nie. Die professor se antwoord was dat hy wel die vraestel nagesien het, maar die student se werk was van so 'n swak gehalte dat hy nie 'n nul kon gee nie en selfs 'n minus punt sou nog te goed gewees het. Toe gee hy die student 'n ‘niks’.
Elke slag as ek 1 Korinthiërs 13 lees, dink ek aan die storie. Om ‘niks’ te wees is erger as om 'n nul of 'n minus te wees en volgens Paulus is ek 'n ‘niks’ as ek nie die liefde het nie. Die Bybel se hele verhaal draai daarom dus om liefde. In die Ou Testament is daar verskillende woorde vir liefde, maar die twee mees gebruikte Hebreeuse woorde is "ahavah" en "hesed".
In die Nuwe Testament het ons vier woorde naamlik "agapé, philia, eros" en "storge". Ons gaan nie 'n uiteensetting probeer gee van watter woord in watter verband gebruik word nie. Belangrik is dat die woorde verwys na God se liefde vir ons, ons liefde vir Hom, ons liefde vir mekaar as mense in die algemeen en familielede in die besonder en selfs ook ons liefde vir 'n ander persoon op seksuele vlak. 'n Pragtige voorbeeld van laasgenoemde is byvoorbeeld die boek Hooglied.
Die belangrike is dat volgens my konkordansie die woorde lief, liefde, liefhê en nog ander soortgelyke woorde, meer as sewehonderd keer in die Bybel voorkom. Die Tien Gebooie praat dwarsdeur van liefde, ja, elke gebod is geskoei op die beginsel van liefde.
Daarom sê Jesus wanneer Hy die wet saamvat in Matteus 22:37-40: “Jy moet die Here jou God liefhê met jou hele hart en met jou hele siel en met jou hele verstand. Dit is die belangrikste en die eerste gebod. En die tweede wat hieraan gelykstaan, is, ‘Jy moet jou naaste liefhê soos jouself’. Op hierdie twee gebooie berus die hele Wet en die Profete”.
Gebed: Here, soms is ek so bang dat ek dalk 'n niks is omdat my liefde vir U en my medemens so ver tekortskiet. Laat my tog hierdie vrees oorwin. Amen
Ben Fourie
They were calling out to each other: ‘Holy, holy, holy! The LORD Almighty is holy! His glory fills the world." Isaiah 6:3, GNT
In this vision that Isaiah saw, we are overwhelmed by the glory and holiness of God. Every time I read this passage, I realise that God is completely different. To the theologian, Karl Barth, the fact that God is totally different is crucial to our understanding of him.
God is so transcendent, so different from us and the world we live in, that one might wonder whether contact between God and us is even possible. Even more difficult is the question of love between him and us. If Isaiah, who as a prophet was very near to God, was so overwhelmed by this vision that he could only cry out, “There is no hope for me! I am doomed,” what about us?
As I grow older, I am becoming increasingly impressed by the idea of the mystery of God. When I was younger, I was certain that I knew all the answers about God, but now that I am more advanced in years, I see him as the One who is completely different from what I perceived him to be in my youth. I recently read about Fransiscus of Assisi and wished to experience something of the mystery he experienced in his relationship with God.
Time and again, all of this brings me back to the question of God’s love for me and my love for him. How does it work? If I do not always understand how my love for my wife, children and grandchildren works, how can I ever understand what the Bible means by God’s love for me? I am such an insignificant little person when viewed against the background of Isaiah’s vision. Listen to what Isaiah said in Isaiah 6:1,4: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on his throne, high and exalted, and his robe filled the whole Temple. … The sound of their voices made the foundation of the Temple shake, and the Temple itself was filled with smoke.”
Does this great God also love me?
Come walk through the Bible with me this month to see how the story of God’s love for us unfolds, and also to see the interaction between his love for me, my love for him and my love for my fellow man.
Prayer: Our Heavenly Father, please help me to understand more about your love for me. Amen
Ben Fourie
Hulle het na mekaar geroep en gesê: "Heilig, heilig, heilig is die Here, Heerser oor alle magte! Die aarde is vol van sy heerlikheid.” Jesaja 6:3, 2020-vertaling
In die visioen wat Jesaja hier beskryf, kom 'n mens onder die indruk van die grootheid en heiligheid van God. Telkens wanneer ek dit lees, ervaar ek hoe totaal anders God is. Vir die teoloog Karl Barth is God as die “gans andere” sentraal tot sy hele teologie.
God is so hoog verhewe bo die mens en sy wêreld, dat jy amper wil vra of kontak enigsins moontlik is tussen ons en God, wat nog te sê van liefde. As Jesaja wat baie naby God geleef het as een van sy profete, so oorweldig is deur die visioen dat hy maar net kan uitroep: “Dit is klaar met my! Ek is verlore!” wat dan van ons?
Hoe ouer ek word hoe meer kom ek onder die indruk van die misterie van God. Toe ek jonk was het ek gedink ek het al die antwoorde oor God, maar nou begin ek al meer besef dat Hy werklik gans anders is as wat ek nog altyd gedink het. Toe ek onlangs weer oor Franciscus van Assisi lees, het ek begeer om iets van die mistiek wat hy in sy verhouding met God geken het, te beleef.
Dan kom ek telkemale terug by die vraag oor God se liefde vir my en my liefde vir Hom. Hoe werk dit? As ek nie eers aldag verstaan hoe die liefde vir my vrou en kinders en kleinkinders werk nie, hoe wil ek verstaan wanneer die Bybel sê dat God my liefhet. Ek, nietige klein mensie, gesien teen die agtergrond van Jesaja se visioen. Kom ons luister na Jesaja 6:1,4: “In die sterfjaar van koning Ussia het ek my Heer sien sit op ‘n hoë en verhewe troon. Die some van sy kleed het die tempel gevul ... Die deurpenne in die drumpel het gebewe van die geluid van die een wat roep. Die tempel het vol rook geword.”
Het hierdie groot God my lief?
Kom stap die maand saam met my dan kyk ons hoe die verhaal van God se liefde vir ons ontvou, asook die wisselwerking van my liefde vir Hom en my medemens.
Gebed: Ons Hemelse Vader, help my asseblief om meer te verstaan van u liefde vir my. Amen