Let's talk about love a bit. Why not; love makes the world go around.. they say.
Ever been in-love real bad ..or should I say real good? I met a few smiling young people in this condition lately. Enjoyed talking with em.
We all seem to get so bombarded with this term ..especially in our romantic yet isolationistic Western media-driven culture. These days we hear about "love" in countless songs on our iPods, on the radio, in movies, in social networks, and in e-literature etc.
I want to encourage you to love today. Not sure how many will if I don't. Please know that you are loved. God can't take His eyes off of you. I guess you could say that He's got it bad for you.. or should I say good.
Who or what do you love at this moment? What exactly is love? Do you ever find yourself needing more love for all those flawed sinners around you? Man, I sure do.. 'cause I'm flawed and I simply run out. I need to ask the Lord for more love for the people that I meet sometimes. And they probably need to ask the Lord for more love for me too. Dunno, hope not.
The Lord is indeed the One to turn to when you run out of love for people. He can refill you with His Spirit of love today. Ever been born of His loving Spirit?
"Oh, how kind and gracious the Lord was! He filled me completely with faith and the love of Christ Jesus." ~1 Timothy 1:14
Anyways, wanna know what love is? Well, the Word says that God is love. What a great statement huh. Check out what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13 about this God of love:
"Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have… Isn't always 'me first' ..Doesn't keep score of the sins of others.. Puts up with anything, trusts God always, always looks for the best, never looks back, but keeps going to the end." ~Message
Choosing to love the Lord most before all others will help you gobs in loving those on the horizontal plane around you.
Love is unselfishly choosing for another's highest good. ~C. S. Lewis
If you love the God of the Bible, you will try and take some time each day to get alone and talk with Him ..in the name of the Jesus of the Bible. You will try to take some time to hear from Him as well. It's to be a two way street not a monologue. You knew that.
Prayer upwards these days in our whacked world where lots of junk and animals are worshipped could be to any ole address in the sky, but that would miss the point completely. There is only One Person worthy of our worship.
Do you love and worship the God of the Bible yet? What's holding you back? You've got no hang-ups with the Lord right? You don't love any sins more that Him do you? Do you go and do what He says for you to do? Hey, that's so important!
Sometimes it might feel kind of awkward turning off all the plugged-in devices, widgets and loud techno-contraptions just to grab your Bible and go be alone with God. I've been there before. You might too quickly feel vulnerable or like you need to go do something "more practical" that just be there alone with an invisible God. Do you feel that He has let you down and not answered your prayers in the affirmative before?
Well, keep praying to Him. Express faith in Jesus. Feelings are fickle—they'll soon change. Persevere, 'cause He has never let you down. He's still trustworthy!
But don't make it real complicated 'cause He ain't complicated. Speak to Him in a natural non-religious way like you would to a good Friend 'cause that is what He is ..and so much more.
Just talk, thank, praise, confess, offer up some requests about your needs (instead of angry demands..) and let God know when you are focused in on, and intently listening to Him ..with an open willing heart. Hey, He might speak to you. It doesn't get better than that!
To love at all is to be vulnerable. ~C.S. Lewis
He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God. God is love. Therefore love. Without distinction, without calculation, without procrastination, love! Lavish it upon the poor, where it is very easy; especially upon the rich, who often need it most; most of all upon our equals, where it is very difficult, and for whom perhaps we do the least of all. ~Henry Drummond
Looking back, I have this to regret, that too often when I loved, I did not say so. ~David Grayson
Our loving God—He's really the Initiator and we are to be the responders in this beautiful love relationship. But you might say, "Kurt, God has never imitated His love in my direction." Sure He has, what about the cross? What would you have done differently with sinners, if you were in His shoes so to speak? Can't think of anything? You and me have never sacrificed like He has to show love!
The Bible says, "We love Him [God], because He first loved us" (1 Jn. 4:19). And one of the ways that we can respond to God's love is by spending time with Him and also through our obedience to Him. His Top Ten List (the Ten Commandments) was given to us for our benefit, not His.
It's one thing to say, "I love God," but it's another to do what He says huh.
Jesus Christ said, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself'" (Lk. 10:27). He didn't say love the ocean, the rocks, the earth, the stars and the moon. Perhaps you will have a chance to love God and people today? He'll show you the best Way.
We can only learn to love by loving. ~Iris Murdoch
Your unfailing love, O Lord, is as vast as the heavens; your faithfulness reaches beyond the clouds. ~Psalm 36:5
Faults are thick where love is thin. ~English Proverb
Do not waste time bothering whether you "love" your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone you will presently come to love him. ~C. S. Lewis
Note to self: Tell em by words or deeds ..while you still can. Tell Him while it's still today!
Understatement of the century: A lot more could be said about God's boundless love, but if I make this thing too long, (when I intended for it to be short), others probably won't stop to read the verses about love ..and might forget to show others God's genuine concern today. : )
More? We get busy about so many lesser things don't we?
