Several years ago, one of the top female vocalists posed the question, “What’s Love Got to Do with It?” Her forceful, secular answer was, “It’s nothing but a second-hand emotion.” Like so many of today’s relationships, the root of her response was to inform her lover that their relationship was anchored no deeper than an emotional, sexual connection. The profile of true love has squat to do with emotions, sex, (that “second-hand emotion”) physical attributes (like beauty, upper torso, lower torso, and gender). Genuine, identifiable love is active and involves a willingness to see the intrinsic value of others. Husband and wife, parent and child, friendships, and other human associations may hold some of the ingredients resembling authentic love, but these are contestable if they lack the nature from whom all love flows. Darkness lurks at every step to alter emotions that may result in unforgiveness, hatred, or the breakup of a relationship. As we are aware, just because a woman is a mother does not mean she will automatically remember to love her child. This equally applies to a father. Just because a husband and wife spend most of their lives together does not mean they will love each other until death separates them or until the dissolution of their relationship. Two people can live together for beaucoup years and not love one another. Over time, people change, but what does that have to do with walking away from someone we say we love? Any union built on a solid foundation of love will be rooted in God’s nature and personality. His uniqueness will actively manifest itself in acts of loving care, steadfastness, faithfulness, meeting needs whenever possible, sacrifice, joy, and forgiveness toward the objects of God’s love. Like a small child being transported in a car, to God all of humankind is “precious cargo.” The person who abides in Godly love is exceptional and different. He or she views another as the offspring of the love of God that radiates light and spiritual hope for humanity. We consider ourselves possessions of God. It is not within human nature to continuously be compassionate, nor to not hold grudges, to not be jealous (or envious), inappropriately competitive, overlook irreparable harm, or just plain unconditionally love each other. No, this is only possible by regeneration through His Son, Jesus Christ: “For God So Loved the World…” (John 3:16; I John 2:8-11) This person sees and values humanity, not because of its unloveliness, stubbornness, fear, perverse habits, or bad choices, but because he or she understands that God’s creations are highly valuable and designed to do great things throughout life. God gives us an alert when we speak of loving someone or something. We may accomplish many top-of-the-chart deeds, have mind-boggling intelligence, great political power, enjoy an ideal connection with someone, or have vast amounts of money and things amounting to more than the average person can calculate--but without love, we are worthless! For those who feel like it’s not worth the effort to love the unlovable, just remember, that God is there for all of us every day. He delights in caring for us. He protects us, forgives us, intercedes for us, and most importantly, He loves us with an unconditional, everlasting, eternal love. LOVE HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT!
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