What is love?
We write countless songs about it.
What is love?
We say we love our hobbies...fishing, reading, playing a sport, singing.
What is love?
We say we love our friends and families.
What is love?
I thought I knew what love was. I thought I did a pretty good job of loving others. In my mission statement, I said that I am created to love God and to love others. But what does that really mean? What does that look like in every day life?
Nothing has taught me more about love than teaching. When I first started the education program in college, I was required to write a "Why I Want To Teach" paper. In that paper I said that I wanted to teach because I love God, and therefore I want to express that love to others - especially kids.
I loved children because I thought they were lovable.
It didn't take long in my first year of teaching to realize a serious flaw in my thinking. Children are NOT lovable. Oh, if you spend an hour or two with them, they are cute and funny, and you think they are lovable. But spend an extended amount of time with them and you will find something totally different. They try your patience. They are self-centered. They are rude. They are ungrateful. They argue. They are disobedient, lazy, and the list goes on.
And while I tried my hardest to love these little obnoxious, squirrelly kids, I just couldn't do it. They weren't lovable.
But I've come to realize something that I've always known...yet never really let sink in to my heart. NOBODY is lovable. Not in the terms of behaving in a way that deserves love. We ALL are self-centered, rude, ungrateful, argumentative, lazy, etc.
But God loves us. Even though we are unlovable. Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrated his own love for us in this, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Wow. We are completely undeserving of God's love, but he pours it out on us anyway. Even to the point of dying for us.
As I started this school year, God put 1 Corinthians 13 on my heart. "Love is patient. Love is kind." Love isn't meant to be used like money - lavished on those we like and withheld from those we don't. It is to be given freely to all. Especially the ones who try your patience. Especially to the ones it is difficult to be kind to. I want to speak love to everyone - not only through my words, but also through my actions. I want to love others the way God loves me - not because I am lovable, but because love is meant to be given to all.
When you encounter people this year, don't expect them to be lovable - because they're not. But make a decision to love them, regardless of how they act or make you feel. Remember what Jesus did for you. Memorize 1 Corinthians 13 and ask God to make you into a person who doesn't withhold love from anyone, but gives freely to all.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Thursday, August 2, 2007
The Perfect Date
What is your idea of a perfect date? Long walks on moonlit beaches, April 24 because "its not too hot, its not too cold, all you need is a light jacket"?
Lately, I've found myself caught up in the "to-do" lists of my busy schedule. I move from one appointment to the next. And while I make time for my job, friends, family, and myself, I've left out one important person.
So, yesterday I decided to make a change. I went on a date. While we've spent time together in "group" activities, I've made little effort to spend a lot of one-on-one time with him. We didn't do anything elaborate, we just sat down on a dock at my favorite park and enjoyed each other's company. That's probably what I'd consider the perfect date.
We didn't spend a lot of time talking about frivolous things. He wanted me to share from my heart. I told him about the things that we worrying me, the things I was anxious about, the things that just made me sad. I told him that sometimes I felt like he wasn't taking care of me, protecting me, making me happy. I told him that sometimes I felt really lonely.
But then I stopped and listened to him. And he was honest with me. He didn't tell me I was silly or stupid or stubborn. He just reminded me about himself:
"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made."
"The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made."
"The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him, he hears their cry and saves them."
"The Lord watches over all who love him."
"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength...Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!"
"Therefore we do not lose heart...For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
"Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, 'My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God'? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. The will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
Have you had a date with Jesus lately? Have you been too busy to spend time just listening to him? We slot activities, people, and tasks into our schedules, but rarely set aside time with the one person who always speaks the truth, who is the God of all comfort, and who can truly satisfy the desires of your heart.
Get away. Go to your favorite place and spend time with him every day. Enjoy your perfect date.
Lately, I've found myself caught up in the "to-do" lists of my busy schedule. I move from one appointment to the next. And while I make time for my job, friends, family, and myself, I've left out one important person.
So, yesterday I decided to make a change. I went on a date. While we've spent time together in "group" activities, I've made little effort to spend a lot of one-on-one time with him. We didn't do anything elaborate, we just sat down on a dock at my favorite park and enjoyed each other's company. That's probably what I'd consider the perfect date.
We didn't spend a lot of time talking about frivolous things. He wanted me to share from my heart. I told him about the things that we worrying me, the things I was anxious about, the things that just made me sad. I told him that sometimes I felt like he wasn't taking care of me, protecting me, making me happy. I told him that sometimes I felt really lonely.
But then I stopped and listened to him. And he was honest with me. He didn't tell me I was silly or stupid or stubborn. He just reminded me about himself:
"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made."
"The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made."
"The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him, he hears their cry and saves them."
"The Lord watches over all who love him."
"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says: In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength...Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!"
"Therefore we do not lose heart...For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes, not on what is seen, but what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."
"Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, 'My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God'? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. The will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
Have you had a date with Jesus lately? Have you been too busy to spend time just listening to him? We slot activities, people, and tasks into our schedules, but rarely set aside time with the one person who always speaks the truth, who is the God of all comfort, and who can truly satisfy the desires of your heart.
Get away. Go to your favorite place and spend time with him every day. Enjoy your perfect date.
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