When you love someone, does it imply you need to miss this person in case you’re too far away? If not, how is this love?\u00a0I remember that Paul was always saying in his letters that he missed the people from the churches he wrote to. What do you think?<\/p>\n\t
“For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ<\/em>” (Philippians 1:8).<\/p>\n
“Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved<\/em>” (Philippians 4:1).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
When you love someone, you enjoy their company and you look forward to being with them again. Now in our technological world, we have reached a point where you can remain in contact with people without physically being there. It often isn’t quite the same, but it helps a bit. The desire for another person comes because of the affection we have for that person.<\/p>\n
You can even look forward to meeting someone you’ve never met. Paul had not been to Rome, but he wrote: “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established — that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me<\/em>” (Romans 1:11-12). Paul had that desire because he loved all the brethren. But then, we haven’t met God yet, and we still long to be home with Him because of our mutual love.<\/p>\n
Still, there is an aspect of love that might not cause a desire to be with a person. We are told to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44). I’m to show them love, yet because they don’t like me, I very likely won’t miss them when they are not there. I can show love, but the affection isn’t there.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: When you love someone, does it imply you need to miss this person in case you’re too far away? If not, how is this love?\u00a0I remember that Paul was always saying in his letters that he missed the people from the churches he wrote to. What do you think? Answer: “For God is my…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-27243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-love"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":61229,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/you-are-beloved\/","url_meta":{"origin":27243,"position":0},"title":"You Are Beloved","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 9, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Kent Heaton To be a child of God is to enjoy the immeasurable blessings of a heavenly Father who grants gifts of mercy and grace to His children daily. Because of the sacrifice of the \"only begotten Son,\" (John 3:16) Christians embrace the warm relationship of salvation through the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31047,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-person-be-baptized-correctly-by-someone-who-doesnt-teach-the-whole-truth\/","url_meta":{"origin":27243,"position":1},"title":"Can a person be baptized correctly by someone who doesn’t teach the whole truth?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a few questions for you. One is regarding your answer: \"Does a person leaving the Christian Church need to be baptized again?\" about a person leaving the Christian Church. I talked to a preacher who is in a bit of conflict with a person who left the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25924,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-god-doing-for-me-now-to-prove-his-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":27243,"position":2},"title":"What is God doing for me now to prove His love?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: God taught us to love and loving is a daily process requiring lots of physical and conscious effort. To show I love my wife, I have to remind her, I have to shower her with gifts, I have to kiss, hold, caress her, and sacrifice to her daily. Sometimes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3560,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-move-on-after-the-death-of-a-loved-one\/","url_meta":{"origin":27243,"position":3},"title":"How do I move on after the death of a loved one?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 7, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The only man I thought I would ever love died in a car accident. I feel lost, cold, and alone; and I can't even think of anything else. He's in my mind all the time, as I last saw him, and I don't feel that I will ever love\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53419,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-the-bible-teach-about-soul-mates\/","url_meta":{"origin":27243,"position":4},"title":"What does the Bible teach about soul mates?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening, I'm trying to understand what the Bible teaches on the matter of \"soul mates.\" Could you offer some guidance? A coworker of mine asked me today if I believe in soul mates. She's been married before and divorced for what I understand are unscriptural reasons. She is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16409,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/love-is-different\/","url_meta":{"origin":27243,"position":5},"title":"Love is Different","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Paul's description of love in I Corinthians 13:4-8 is both well-known and unheeded. Despite knowing what love is and is not, people still expect more of love. They want the fluttery feeling of butterflies in the stomach and the emotional high. To many, love isn't real\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/LoveElephant.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27243\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}