Skip to main content

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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more