Tuesday, April 21, 2009

What is L-O-V-E?

I know that it has been a while since I have posted – not because I haven't thought about it and wanted to but because there has been so much going on in my life and I wasn't sure if I could get my thoughts together!

I have really been thinking about what it is to really love. We all say it so freely that we love someone or that we love something! We say that we love pizza or chocolate in the same breath that we say that we love our family! What is love? The more that I thought about it, the more I was challenged to ask myself whether my definition of love matched up with my actions and the answer is that more often than not, it did not. I decided that I better find out what real love is, from the One who created love and showed us real love through His actions – none other than Jesus Christ of Nazareth – God Most High! There is no one who can possibly top His love. He gave His very own life for me, for you, for us all – just to save us because He loved us! So what does He say about love?

1 Corinthians 13
The Way of Love
 1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end.
 8-10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
 11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
 12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
 13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. (The Message)

After reading this passage, I have definitely come to the conclusion that I don't really love. Which one of these have I not broken in the past week let alone 24 hours! Every day I break one or more of these – for example, “...isn't always “me first”, doesn't fly off the handle, doesn't keep score of others sins...” Guilty as charged – not one remains that has not been broken – not one! I have broken them all. What a revelation this has been for me! I hold my husband to such a higher standard than I hold my own self to and I get very upset when he doesn't meet that standard. What about setting the standard for myself? It really is time to take a good look at my heart and make some changes!
God definitely got a hold of me and brought this verse to my attention. I have now made this verse my personal prayer and theme verse. Here it goes:

Philippians 1: 9-11
 9-11 So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover's life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God. (The Message)

It is about time that I stop focusing on others faults whether legitimate or not and focus on what I have done and whether what I am doing is pleasing to God or satisfying my sinful self! It's for God to take care of others. He did not give me that job and I need that job no more, no more!

If you have struggled or are struggling with loving someone the way Christ told us to, my prayer for you is I Corinthians 13 and Philippians 1: 9-11. May God be with us and help us as we make those necessary changes in our lives ! OK God! start with me!