Love – so misunderstood.
It’s been cheapened to bathroom stall graffiti and sung about until crooners were hoarse. However, only God shows us what genuine love looks like.
Ezekiel 37:26 says, “ It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore..”
Love is faithful, unchanging, generous, peaceful, patient.
The Bible says so much about love outside of the oft quoted, but rarely lived out I Corinthians 13.
In John 13 Christ shows love in His living once again. Of course His death was the ultimate act of love, but we don’t have to die for someone to love them. Christ demonstrated. With his torturous crucifixion just hours away and the emotional toll mounting, He poured Himself out again. Washing, cleaning away dirt, refreshing the tired, well-used feet of the disciples. The simple gesture had a profound motivation, “34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Our love should be unmistakable (not obnoxious or showy, but clearly noticed by others). Humble. Serving, Selfless. Constant. Faithful. Dependable. Generous. Costing much.
God’s display of love throughout the Old and New Testament often stops me in my tracks and brings much introspection. Am I loving like that? He doesn’t love me simply for my own benefit, for the warm fuzzies I get in a dark season. He loves, so we can love each other. Not in a lackluster, “I’ll pray for you” kind of way. Real love.
When I don’t want to, when my own burdens are overwhelming, when needs are great (or small), when the occasion arises. Over and over again. Loving with no expected return, as an instrument of God’s great love.
Love as Christ loved – in my home toward my family; in my church toward fellow believers; and even out into the world living the message of hope. I think we all know what love looks like, but we want to check a box and say we did it. Debt paid, no more love owed today. Hmph. Doesn’t work that way. Christ owed us nothing, yet He gave everything. That’s the enduring nature of love. It never quits pouring out.
Precious Savior, thank you for showing me what love really looks like. My human wisdom would have defined it much differently. I pray that I would love with such passion and consistency that the world may know you more. ~Amen
Sixty-six books in a year 