Monday 2 July 2012

RECIPE FOR HAPPINESS

ONE IS HAPPY ONCE HE KNOWS THE NECESSARY INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS: SIMPLE TASTES, A CERTAIN DEGREE OF COURAGE, SELF DENIAL TO A POINT, LOVE OF WORK, AND ABOVE ALL, A CLEAR CONSCIENCE.

Sunday 1 July 2012

WHAT DID JESUS SAY ABOUT "LOVE"?

 


 

Love was for Jesus probably the most vital ingredient in the way people should live. He said the two most important commands in the Hebrew scriptures were the one that said love God and the one that said love people.
This love, of course, is not to be confused with “lurve”. For Jesus, love was nothing much to do with feelings, but all to do with how you treat people. Neither was it a case of just being generally vaguely well-disposed to the human race. It meant actively doing for others what you would want if you were in their shoes. And more, it meant repaying evil with good.
Jesus made it clear that for himself love meant dying for the good of the world.
For Jesus love was not so much a nice feeling as a hard and often painful way of life…
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone hits you on the cheek, offer them the other cheek. If someone takes your cloak, don’t stop him taking your tunic. Give to everyone who begs, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you. After all, if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them” (Luke 6:27-32).