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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.  

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