Love. They say it's one of the most mystical words in any vocabulary of any language on this planet. It's a word that can mean so much...if you can understand what it means. But-is love something that we can possibly understand or not? Let's take a little looksie and talk about it for a moment.
Love can simply be stated as that special feeling you get when you meet the person that you're destined to be with forever, or as the hearts longing for it's counterpart, along with many other definitions that have been placed on love. But can one put an exact match on what love really means? I'm not exactly sure anyone really knows, but let me tell you a story about a man that I'm sure knows all about love.
His name is Jesus. He was hung on a cross as an innocent man. He lived a life that was different, but it was nothing that should have brought him to be crucified. The reason he died was for something much bigger than we could ever imagine. And my only reasonable understanding is that He loves us so much that he died for us. (1 John 4:19 "For we love because He first loved us.") I've been a christian for almost four years now, and the only way that I can love on others is because of the love that my heavenly father has constantly poured into me. He's the only thing that's good in me. The only way that I am good is because he's been more than good to me. And that my friends is no lie.
Now here's the challenge: what do relationships look like in your lives? Is love something that you consider to be at the forefront of most of your relationships? Or all? Or any? That's the question I will be asking myself tonight before I lay down for bed. But I think love is something that needs to be right smack dab in the middle of a relationship. And I'm talking about any relationship, not just a relationship that is romantic.
If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. This is a quote directly from scripture. (1 Corinthians 13).
I love what Gods word states here about love. Basically without love I can do nothing. I could understand everything possible to man about God and all the mysteries of heaven and earth and all the universe has to offer, I could move mountains, I could die for the sake of Christ, but If I don't have love, than I have nothing. Let me reiterate it again...I have nothing.
If you're married to your wife and you stand up in front of all your friends and family and say I do to your wife, isn't that love? Not necessarily. But if you do the things that your heart tells you to do for her because of the love and appreciation you have for her, that's what I would call love.
God is the only thing that we have that will essentially provide our daily needs. He is the giver of life. The one that calms the raging seas in our lives. And it's all because of that word we've been talking about....LOVE.
4 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud 5 or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. 6 It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. 7 Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.
Those are probably some of the most powerful words that anyone could ever speak into you. Within this there is something that this whole world needs. It's hope, hope of a love to come that will ultimately change each and every heart that's ever lived.
Love was put to trial a long time ago, and love was put to death to die on a cross for you and I. So that we could all live a life of freedom from sin and bondage. They couldn't keep love in the grave, and love broke every chain and removed each one of our infinite stains. Love is the thing that makes us tick, like our own little energizer bunny. But love is never going to let you go, he'll always be there for you, and it will always, and I mean always, love you more than you could ever even imagine!
