Stop and Love

Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other; let us really show it by our actions.” (1 John 3:18 NLT) 

 

Living a life of sacrifice has many implications. I believe the one greatest sacrifice we can make, and the one God has called us to make, is the sacrifice of love. Today we are all told to "love your neighbor as yourself." I am sure your mother beat into your head that you must "be kind to strangers" (but do not talk to them either), and that you need to tell your grandmother that you love her. The word love has become a second rate word to a lot of people in society. The true meaning of the word love has been lost, and thus the word is being thrown around as glitter on greeting cards and used as a resolve for child abuse. Apparently love also now fails 60% of the time when used as a foundation for marriage, but for some reason can be used as the sole reason for continuing an affair. 

Think back in your own life. How have you viewed and treated love. Was it just another word used to get your way in that early dating relationship of yours? Or was it a life philosophy that you lived by, treasured, protected and generously gave of? Can we describe love as an action? An emotion? A decision or choice? Or is it a life characterized by all three? Take a moment and ask yourself these questions.  I will look at how Jesus viewed love in the next post. 

Here is how one man described love:

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.
- Captain Corelli's Mandolin. "Love is the beauty of the soul." --St. Augustine