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Loving Through....


Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. (I John 4:8-9) 

      How do you say, "I love you" to someone? As I read what's shared on Face Book, it's clear that some people think they love someone because that someone makes them feel good. Some people think that love means feeling sexual attraction toward. It seems to me that those people love themselves, not the person they claim to love. 
            The Father said "I love you" by sending His Son to suffer the punishment we deserve. The Son said, "I love you" by doing what the Father said and by suffering the punishment we deserve. It wasn't about what we could do for them or how much they enjoy us. Remember yesterday's discussion of us as an outhouse? 
            Love isn't easy. It costs a lot - though not necessarily money. Love can cost being silent when one wants to scream, or screaming when one would rather be silent. It can cost going where we shouldn't have to go and doing what we shouldn't have to do. Love does a lot of putting the needs (and only sometimes the wants) of the other ahead of our own. There are memes that talk about being nice being simple, or being nice not costing a thing. Nice is a subset of love. It's often not simple and it frequently costs a great deal because it requires that we go beyond what we (our selves) want. To love means to invest time, energy, attention and resources for the well-being of someone else, and part of that cost is in finding out what will really improve the loved one's well-being. Love may mean not patting someone on the back and saying, "You're OK." It might mean saying, "You're really messed up, let me walk with you through...."
        Love might involve bringing in someone who knows how to fix holding tanks and has the tools and chemicals needed to free the sewage from your holding tank, who then gives a lecture on how to keep that holding tank from stinking again.


P.S. I'm not planning the order of these attributes. I'm taking them from a list I found on line.

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