On Considering Love…
Today is a highly commercialized and marketed day set aside for recognizing the wonderful mystery of love. What is love? Is romantic love the highest form of love? What about the millions who never really experience romantic love, are they missing out? These are questions that surface on days like today. When the wrong answers are given, despair and hopelessness become many peoples reality.
There is an answer for this question however, that could bring fulfillment to all who will embrace it:
This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God. 1 John 4:10 (MSG)
What is love? Love is God sending His only Son into the world to ransom us from ourselves; out of our self-destructive nature into a vessel whereby God’s Son could live through us. By letting Him live in us He brings certain gifts that enable us to have a fulfilled life, gifts like:
22-23 But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Galatians 5:22-23 (MSG)
What a trade-off, our sinful life in exchange for a life where we have a fruitful orchard of blessings! And best of all we reconciled back to God, no longer an alien to Hi goodness and grace! We become stronger, wiser, more compassionate, more determined, more at peace. A heart that is open to not only loving God but also being able to receive love from those around us. For it is only in being able to understand what love is that we are able to receive it.
Now thanks be to God for His indescribable gift [which is precious beyond words]! 2 Corinthians 9:15 (AMP)
Maria