More Thoughts on Love

Ok so a few thoughts on love the past few weeks. I guess it is still smouldering under my skin that despite the expressions of love in our society I don’t see it actually working, I hear it more than see it. Then I look at my own life and realize that I also still have a long way to go learning this. The Hebrews 13:1 verse that said ‘Let brotherly love continue’ is still churning away trying to work its way out in the real world. It is a great thing to say we have love and it is awesome to know that God loves us. I mean Jesus came to save us over this whole love thing. Then a few verses later in this Hebrews chapter it talks about marriage and the marriage bed... which then took me to how I am to love my wife... Ephesians says I am to be love my wife as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.

But the challenge is I am not God and neither are you so somehow it is a big challenge for us to really love. Me love my wife as Christ loved as God himself loved and therefore gave—HIMSELF. Wow do I stand a chance of that kind of love. Those of you that know Ruth know she is lovable, that is not the problem, the problem is me, I’m not always very loving, I have my own agenda. So God to make this love thing really clear says that a man is to love his wife as if it is his own body. And I reply back to God, ‘Hey I’m just not that good.’ And you know if you look into your own heart you aren’t either. We all struggle with love that deep, that honest, that transparent. To know we should do and to actually get it done are two different things.

Then earlier in the actual words of Jesus we read that the two great commandments are 1. To love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls and minds. And 2. To love our neighbour as our self. I don’t know about you but I have to believe that Jesus just didn’t know some of the neighbours I’ve had over the years. Some were pretty bad.

So I realize very quickly the ability to love like I am supposed to is just not as good as it needs to be and I jump to 1 John where the wee verse reminds me that “God is love.” While I do know and understand that God is so much more than love he is still love. Jesus was/is love incarnate (stop me and ask me if that word needs defining). Wow, so the key to loving and continuing in brotherly love is then to know God, not to do it on my own but to really know God and then let his love flow into and through me to others. And hopefully many others will join this journey...

I will share a story from a friend of mine that had to really learn this...

Stay tuned,

Jon