God’s love.
Ok so I know this topic is written about a lot.
And its on my mind...A LOT.
Because on earth, there really is no other love BUT His love because He is love.
So, any earthly love we have is a picture, a reflection, of the love that He created..that HE IS...in the first place.
Make sense?
There is no love, true love, apart from Him and who He is.
Even if people don’t even acknowledge God at all, His common grace to the world IS His love.
The sun, the moon, stars, smiles we do even as infants are all glimpses -- tangible evidence of His common grace to the world of love.
NOW...what does this even mean. I just had a thought that completely and totally baffled my mind.
WE are the picture of God’s love to the world.
I am a picture of that to the world.
In every relationship.
In everything, we are chosen to be examples -- living pictures -- of this love.
I know to some, this may seem fanciful.
And to many guys I know, this may seem all cliche and “romantic like”
Because don’t you know that all the girls are the ones frolicking around saying God is love with hearts written all around it and silly things like that.
BUT really its amazing and INTENSE and its FIERCE when you look into it for what it really means.
And i haven’t even gotten started on discovering all that this entails.
This is just me at my beginning stages, of years of searching what it really means, and still coming up way short than what I should.
This is just me ranting my thoughts and recent findings.
And it’s cool because in Africa I really get the chance to write out everything on my mind and share it.
Having a blog at home is kind of strange and desperate feeling to me (sorry for you guys who do that I LOVE reading them all)
But here, away from all the crazy business of the world, I can share what I’m writing for a change without being asked any questions.
haha just kidding on that part. But really, I love this part about being away -- writing out things I usually just write to myself.
And lets just face it, writing from Africa is just kind of a whole lot cooler than writing from Winder, Ga.
haha just kidding again.........
Just my crazy mind working in weird ways about when its right to blog etc. etc.
this is what happens when its late. im tired. internet is down and I start reading and get a lot of thoughts on my mind. this could be dangerous.
BUT ANYWAYS.
First we must abandon the definitions of love we have grown up in culture to believe as true.
Love is not just romance.
Love is not for personal gain.
Love is not really blind.
Love is not just a feeling.
Love isn’t even an emotion, really.
Because emotions come and go, deep rooted love, well that doesn’t go anywhere.
And i struggle with this sometimes.
Because sometimes I say that if someone has done me wrong they don’t really deserve my love.
Because I like to think that love is solely a feeling, and i “feel” more love towards certain people than I do for others. Which is okay to feel more for others in a different way. I mean you wouldn’t want to feel the same way about your wife/husband/family as you do about your strange neighbor, right? But the feeling isn’t the point.
I choose who i want to love and those who I don’t. A lot.
Or how about this phrase. “I love them I just don’t like them”
Yeah, well I think that phrase is just a cover up for having no intentional love towards a person at all. I know I use it all too much. So we might as well be real and say “Gah lee I really don’t know if i have any love for that person at all”
So.....
Desire is in all of us. It just is. Some of us specifically desire different things, like I have no desire to be a disney princess at disney world and I usually don’t really have a desire to wear lots of make up. And i usually don’t have a desire to wear fancy clothes. And i don’t have a desire to do math problems.
Some people do! And that is so okay.
But i’m talking deeper desires. Like in Romans 8 when it says that we are literally “groaning” waiting for something eternally bigger than what we find here on earth.
Groaning.
And i know that verse freaks people out sometimes, but oh my word how cool that is because it is so true!
I think that most of us can relate to that feeling -- that gnawing feeling inside of us -- when we know that we need something more in life. Something real.
That gnawing feeling of just emptiness.
Most of the time this happens when we are in a really really bad place in life, at a place where we know we shouldn’t be and weren’t meant to be in.
Or it can happen when we are at a seemingly really good and successful place in life.
In fact, most of the “happiest” people around are the emptiest and they know it too.
Even the most wonderful things here on the earth can’t fill us with complete satisfaction.
We weren’t created for them too.
We were created for LOVE. Fierce love. Crazy love.
A Love beyond all reason and sense.
Yes, we were created for something that most of the time doesn’t really make sense, at all.
And i find it so fascinating.
That we have gotten so far from the truth in the world that an unconditional love seems so VERY far fetched for people.
It’s unheard of.
And its hard to even begin to fathom amidst all of the hurt in the world.
And understandably so.
But its crazy to me, and my word my prayer is that I can learn to live this out better!
It’s crazy that we can love the world so fiercely amidst all of the crap going on, we can still find enjoyment, a joy, in the act of love. In the mere fact that love exists and that it is here with us. among us. inside of us.
Yes, the church nowadays is struggling BIG TIME i believe.
And truth is scarce.
And there is war.
And there is hate.
And there is disgusting things going on in the world.
And there are lots of empty people.
There are lots of rude people. (i am in this category more than i want to be)
And there are a lot of lies, corruptness, and deceit.
And yes its not like the “good old days” anymore.
And there are so many things i wish didn’t exist.
And so much that I wish would just instantly change.
And i do believe that some things are worth getting angry and upset about, a lot of things actually.
But amidst all of this is it POSSIBLE to still love? and to really show it!
To still intentionally choose love over bitterness.
And to choose love over differences.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that Jesus died on a cross for a lot of bitter disgusting people.
I’m pretty sure I am pretty bitter and disgusting about things sometimes.
And yes God corrects people.
And brings judgement.
But all of it, EVERY SINGLE BIT, is rooted in love...a love more real and more fierce than we will ever get the privilege of understanding.
A love that we should all search to know more about.
I hear it a lot, ha I say it a lot even.
Especially here...”But those people broke into my house.....But they totally ripped me off....But they are fake....But they are just rude.....But they are just not like me.....But they are just crazy.....But they did this and that to me and it was really really bad....But they don’t even know.......But things aren’t like they used to be.....But its just bad here......But no one gets it.....But this and but that.
It’s about time we put ourselves in our place, daily.
I have to daily.
I don’t, but i should do it daily.
To see that everything we say about people can probably be said about us. (ouch)
That when it doesn’t seem logical to choose love and to see joy AT ALL, we still can....putting logic aside.
Because if logic was what saved the world.
If logic is the reason we are all here.
If its based on logic, then all of us can count ourselves done with.
LOGIC can sometimes become folly.
I know that’s probably easier said on my part because sometimes (most of the time) I don’t really like to see the most logical way to do things.
Many of us will admit that there is a gaping hole in our hearts until we are captivated by something so much bigger than us, it doesn’t “make sense” it isn’t very “logical” that someone, THE someone, died on the cross for a bunch of messed up people.
I wouldn’t have died for me and the person I was.
The logical thing would have been to just let me be.
But Jesus went beyond logic. He chose Love because He is Love.
And HE showed us that when we look past ourselves and let go of control, His ways really do make sense.
And ya see LOVE says that when someone doesn’t even deserve it, love them anyways in the best way that you can.
Im not saying to allow yourself to be walked all over or to be taken advantage of.
But I am saying to not let a root of pride or bitterness win in a failed message we communicate to ourselves that we are better than them.
Because we aren’t better.
None of us are.
And boys, love isn’t something meant to be drawn all over a page with hearts around it.
Thats just all cheezy hollywood stuff.
It’s more.
It’s bigger.
And oh so much better.
(don’t get me wrong, hearts and romance is all wonderful and stuff)
BUT just look past all that for now.
to something thats hard sometimes.
to something that will transform our lives.
To choose to see God’s goodness.
to understand the fact that the sun rising and setting each day is a DAILY MESSAGE saying that “Hey world. Amidst all of the bad things going on. I , God, STILL LOVE YOU.”
When you see love as more of a crazy powerful stunning sunrise/sunset thing than of a heart drawing ooeey gooeeyy thing its pretty cool.
Pretty powerful.
And that’s how it should be.
Don’t forget to see the POWER of God in the world.
That love is powerful.
That life and every day happenings are powerful.
And that our hearts were created to beat to something passionate and powerful.
And when we surrender to that, something crazy happens.
We become not our own. And things start to change.
And joy happens.
And relationships grow.
And relationships change and happen -- for the absolute better.
And bitterness eases bit by bit.
And craziness takes place.
And life seems to make sense amidst all of the nuttiness.
That extravagant love is just the point.
This is what separates life from the rules for me.
Powerful truths like this one.
So we can see that ha life IS NOT about daily check lists of right or wrongs.
Of rules kept and rules not kept.
Of going to far and staying too close.
Life isn’t about a routine of rules.
But when we fall under these powerful truths, things literally start changing.
And freedom happens.
Because with love comes grace and our hearts are LITERALLY turned (isn’t that crazy?!) to really desiring the good and not just following a check list of crazy rules.
I could go on an on, but lets just call this the first of many posts on love for now.
toodles..
MUCH LOVE :)
