God is love.
Love is not the girl who sat across from you in chemistry. Love is not the boy who scored the winning touchdown at homecoming. Love is not the look she gave. Love is not the text he sent.
These are NICE things. These things will even ENCOURAGE you and make you FEEL good. But they aren’t love. God is love. Love isn’t easy because our view of love is misguided and distorted. We have a tendency to think love is a relationship or a material object or a little bit of attention. That kinda love isn’t easy, because that’s not love, that’s a SHADOW of love. That’s like settling for XJ900’s when you’re really looking for Jordans. Just sayin’.
Once our perspective changes, once our eyes are opened to the fact that GOD IS LOVE and that He’s the one we should be pursuing, love becomes less of a challenge. I’m not saying relationships get EASIER, I’m saying experiencing and understanding LOVE becomes easier as we go from chasing after things to pursuing the MAIN THING: Jesus.
Love raises the bar.
Check out what Paul writes about love…
4Love is patient, love is kind. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4, 7, 8 NIV
Seriously?! THAT’S love? No wonder love isn’t easy. Look what Paul does here. Love is patient? Since when? If patience is the standard by which we are to measure love, I fail every day (like EPIC fail).
Love raises the bar.
Take a moment and think about all the people you love. I’m talking about spouses and kids and friends and family and whoever else makes the list. Think about your relationship with them. Think about your interaction with them. Think about the last thing you said or email you sent or text you sent or message you sent on Facebook… whatever it is, get it in your head.
Now, how do they measure against the following standards?
Love is… patient, kind, protects, trusts, hopes, perseveres, and never fails.
Do these words describe your relationships? Do these words come even remotely close to the way you interact with and talk to others? To the people you say you LOVE? Chances are you’ve made some mistakes. Chances are you’ve said some things you wish you could take back or done some things you’d like to erase. Love isn’t easy. Love raises the bar.
Maybe because of something you’ve experienced in the past, maybe your parents divorced or maybe you’ve been divorced or cheated on or abused or SOMETHING and THAT thing, THAT moment, THAT experience has shaped and molded and twisted your view of love. Life LOWERED the bar. Are you ready for something better? I’m not asking if you think you DESERVE it, because life will often make you feel like you don’t. I’m asking do you WANT something better? Do you WANT to experience the love you’ve always wanted? Do you WANT to know what it means to be accepted AS YOU ARE?
God IS love.
And God loves YOU.
Love raises the bar, but God won’t raise it until you say it’s ok.
Are you ready?
Reflect:
- How have past experiences LOWERED your expectations of love?
- Describe some ways you’ve tried to find EASY love? How’d that work out for you?
- Are you ready to experience love like God always intended?
- Take some time this week to pray and ask God to show you the love you’ve always wanted and have never been able to find.
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