Skip to main content

The Love To Which We Are To Aspire

             This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. (I John 4:10)

 

            No, we’re not done with love as a topic just because it’s after St. Valentine’s Day. In fact, this is one of the “better” verses about love, because it challenges our understanding and smashes our self-satisfaction. This is the standard to which we are to aspire. God created us. We rebelled against Him. We continue to rebel against Him and it’s not some secret that He doesn’t know about. We didn’t love Him. We still don’t love Him as we should and He knew we wouldn’t. And yet, He loved and loves us enough to send His Son (who loved us enough to come) to atone for our sins.

            Love isn’t “I like being around him, he makes me laugh (or happy, or feel good, or whatever.)”

            Love isn’t “The sex is great with her.” Or “He’s hot.”

             Love isn’t “He fulfills me” or “She is my better half.”

            There are reports…an Amish community forgiving the man who killed a group of their children before killing himself, and adopting and caring for his family… a woman forgiving the man who killed her son. After he got out of prison, telling him of an apartment in her own building that was available, and effectively adopting him as her surrogate son…a woman confronted by one of the guards from the concentration camp in which she was imprisoned and taking his offered hand…. I’m sure there are others.

            People have such a weak, simplistic view of love as something easy and enjoyable. You wake up in the morning to find an attractive partner smiling and holding a breakfast tray; your birthday is never forgotten, no date is ever missed, the partner is never out-of-sorts, knows how to cook, gladly helps clean, etc. Love is harder when the partner gets up in the middle of the night, brings a plate of fried chicken back to bed, eats it, puts the plate on the floor, and wipes his hands on the duvet before going back to bed. It’s harder when the person you’re supposed to be loving can’t remember your name and accuses you of trying to kill him with the dog’s flea meds. It’s way harder when the person you’re supposed to love has beaten you, raped you, killed someone else you love, cheated on you, or treated you like you are worthless. But that’s the love to which we’re to aspire.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more