Love

                Love, what is it?  Love is mysterious.  Love is wonderful.  Love is happy.  Love is sad.  Love makes us feel good.  Love dictates our actions.  Love is that amazing sensation a man feels for a woman.   Love is something a man shares with his dog.  Love is something a geek experiences with the latest software for his computer.  Love is what some artists expresses in their paintings.  Love is how a mother cradles her new born baby.  And love is what causes a man to go to the ends of the earth and back to see his wife simply smile.

                Love IS all of the above I stated; however love is so much more.  Love is totally selfless, always thinking of how to give and not get.  Love is trustworthy and faithful.  Love is always honest.  Love is sacrificing everything I have, even life, to see someone else happy.   Love is why I have eternal life in Heaven.  John 3:16 “For God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”  God wanted us to be able to live in glory with Him forever so He sent His only, perfect, righteous son to come to this earth as a baby, the most vulnerable thing on this planet, to die the most horrible gruesome death a human can suffer to pay our penalty for sin just so that we can have everlasting life in glory.  WOW!!! What an amazing act of love.  So, since we are children of God and we are called to live like Jesus, then wouldn't that mean we need love like He did?  YES!!!  In the book Matthew the Pharisees asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was and this was His answer, “You shall LOVE the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second like it: You shall LOVE your neighbor as yourself. “(Matthew 22-37-39) So according to Jesus, the first two greatest commandments are about loving.  I would think if loving takes such priority in Christ’s life, then we need to make loving the highest priority in our life.  Also, 1 Corinthians 13:3 says, “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.”  So what does love really look like?  1 Corinthians 13:4-8a tells us.  ‘’Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  LOVE BEARS ALL THINGS, BELIEVES ALL THINGS, HOPES ALL THINGS, ENDURE ALL THINGS.  LOVE NEVER ENDS!”

                God lays it out pretty simple for us.  Love Him and love our neighbors.  He gives us an outline of what love REALLY looks like and He gives the greatest example of love to follow after…Jesus Christ.  Also, for those of us who are Christians, we have the God of love within us.  What an amazing thought! :)

                So back to our original question: what is love?  Love is Jesus Christ…and therefore, to love is everything!