Gods Amazing Love

Many people wonder what love is they spend their whole lives trying to grasp it, understand it, and experience it. Movies, television that is where we see what the world glimpses as love. You see men and women in the bedroom experiencing sex before marriage and a girl spotting a boy and realizing she is in love. But is what the television showing really real? And if it is not how in the world do we discover what true love is? There is only one solution one man or being that can show us to us straight and that is our Lord Almighty. God says in his word Hosea 4:6 “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.” Many of us myself included have experienced the ups and downs of human relationships we have felt the pain and the disappointment of another, but we need to understand one thing that God is the only one that is ever able to truly love us both in and out. That man or woman that is a Christian that you are planning or hoping to marry someday will not be able to love you perfectly but the good news is that the one that leads you both the Lord will heal those wounds and bring you close together through his unconditional love, the being that is love orchestrates the love of true marriages. He is the one that creates the beautiful heavens that we gaze upon, and the wonderful people that love you so much or the ones that will.
So what can we learn about Gods word the source of true knowledge the place where God can lay it all down for us to understand what love really looks like. Well Gods love is like summer in winter a warm sunshine in the coldness of our hearts. He is the one that gives us love to love others and uses us to love others more then we could even hope or even dream. God is the one that leads us on a path of love. This year my grandmother bought me a cross necklace a necklace that I was hoping to receive and on it stated the words “A path of faith is a path of love.” When we begin our journey with God it is our first step to coming close to true love, to the one who can love us both in and out in a way that people would give everything they own to experience. A love that speaks silently to our hearts to be patient with one another and bear with one another’s faults for none of us our perfect but our creator himself. First Corinthians is one of the best places to look if you are curious about what Gods love looks like for “ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preservers. Love never fails. Now don’t get me wrong I am not an expert at love but I know one thing without God we could not even think to love like this. The only times that I get love like this right is because of Him. In my past and even know I was very self centered and thought the world had to pay me back for what I had lost as a child. Now I realize that I have everything to gain for if I can love the way God can love and like this scripture through his help I have grasped what life holds of worth in this lifetime.
God shows his love in many ways and one of those and most truest ways of showing his love to his people is by sending Jesus. Jesus never had to come down from heaven, he never had to think about others besides himself but where would we all be? We would all be buried or worse in a place of eternal darkness and shame. God is a god of second chances he realizes we are not perfect, forgives us for our mistakes and loves us for all that we are. I think we are the problem. We are the ones that expect perfection from our selves and from others. For example, to be honest when my good friend James gave me this assignment I thought he was crazy a four page paper on love, I am no expert how can I inform others on a love so deeply and passionately and innocently as the love that Jesus offers to us on the cross. A chance to love again, a chance to experience all the wonders of the kingdom on earth, a chance to love like Jesus, a chance to dream like Jesus, a chance to follow and to be loved by the best savior you could ask for. We expect so much from ourselves when Jesus paid IT ALL. Why do we thirst for perfection when Jesus died for us to enjoy being non perfect people? Jesus loves others through their imperfections so why can’t we? The thing is we should, we should try to love people where they are at. Yes it will be hard or like James says it will be easy but it the end I hope that it will be well worth it. I know that Jesus thinks so and so I will try to continue on doing what I know is best loving the people that I know deserve it but are sometimes hard to deal with. We can do all things through Christ and so we can love others like the way that they need to be loved, press on to finish the race even if sometimes there is a few bumps and bruises along the way. For we all know that a few bumps and bruises is nothing to what God can change and heal over time.
Well about sex should we wait for something true and meaningful or should we give our goods to the first available customer? The best answer and the answer God would say most definitely is to wait. But what is the point you say? I am in love with my Christian boyfriend or girlfriend now if we are going to get married what is the delay? The answer dear friend is that we never know the future and we need to protect our hearts. God says in his word that we do not even know what tomorrow lies so how would we know which person we would spend the rest of your lives with. You may love them now but you never know what could happen. Song of Songs also says it best 2:7 “Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you by the gazelles and by the doe does of the field: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.” Love should never be awoken too soon. It is like waking someone up that does not need or wanted to be awoken yet it is cranky tired and full of thorns, well I am not sure about you but I do not want my marriage to be filled with that.
If God loves me then what is the purpose to really love others like myself? I mean if I have God then why should I try to love others, it is so difficult loving others like that I almost don’t even want to try. If someone is dealing with that problem I understand I have been there. I mean the world treats us unfair why should we treat others fairly? Why should we love others that barely give us the time of day that hurt us, that mistreat us and that put us down? What is the point do I really have to love this individual? The answer is that we do and we should. The answer is in Gods word. “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” John 13:35 and Hebrews 12:14 “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.” We have to make peace with those that are hard to live with, to work with to see at church; wherever we are we need to be ambassadors of God’s peace and love. So we already know that envy is not of love and that peace is a fruit of our God’s love and spirit. One of my favorite verses in the bible is Proverbs 16:7 “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies live at peace with him.” That is one of my favorite verses for many reasons. For one it promises that the Lord will take care of those that hurt us, persecute us, etc and that not only that but that he will bring peace into the situation if we wait long enough to discover it there and believe in it. Sometimes we get a glimpse of that peace with our enemy but as long as we continue to put the Lord’s kingdom first we know that he will use the situation for our good, teach us and show us more of his unconditional love. One story of the bible touches my heart. There once was a godly man named Isaiah and God told him to love someone that was hard to love so that the Lord could show his unconditional love for his people. Look in Hosea if you are curious. So who is your prostitute? Who is the one that you have to love that does not seem to want or care for your love, the one that keeps wanting to leave, well don’t give up hope is just around the corner. In the end Homer became a faithful wife proving that when love does not give up love does not fail. Keep striving to love others and make peace with those that seem to not want it for perhaps God is trying to reach them through you.