East End

2-3-08

February, the month of love! Does anyone else find it ironic that the month of love is also the shortest month of the year? Maybe that is just how my mind works. But it gets me to thinking (“I could be another Lincoln if I only had a brain”-from the Wizard of Oz), what is love? How do we know what love is? Well as any good Bible scholar would know (and I know that you do), you would know to get this answer you would go to the Bible. Psychologically speaking love is an emotion. It is given to us by God as a way to relate to Him as well as to others. So then, how do we know how to love? That answer is found in 1 John 4:19, “we love Him because He first loved us.” The Bible is the grandest of all love letters. It is written by God to all of mankind. Even before we knew what true love was the Bible tells us that God showed us His love, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). It is sad to see when a secular counselor is trying to teach people about love. It is sad because the counselor themselves does not know what love is because they don’t know the God of love. Simply put, you can not teach that which you do not know. It is funny to hear teenagers (and remembering myself) when they talk about they have found the love of their life in the 9^th grade. To be fair and honest, some have but the reality is most people don’t find the right person for them until later in life. If you want to understand what true love is all you have to do is look at the cross. Allow me to briefly explain. We must understand and accept that true love is shown in the words of 1 Corinthians 13. The word there is agape which means unconditional. This is how Jesus loves us. He doesn’t put a condition His love, He just loves us. Can you imagine showing you love to someone by giving up your child? That is exactly what God the Father did. He sent His Son to love people who rejected Him and then He died on a cross so that we all might live. Nothing says I love you more than being willing to lay down your life according to John 15:13. The greatest and sometimes the hardest words to say are, “I love you.” But say it to someone you truly love and watch what happens. Remember even when you feel unlovable God loves you! You can never say that no one loves you, because God not only says it but showed it by dying on a cross. What are you willing to do to say “I love you” back to God? To paraphrase John 14:15 God says that if you love Me, you will be obedient. There is no better time than the month of love to enter into a love relationship that will change your life and eternity. If you need to have that relationship, Jesus’ arms are wide open and He is still saying I love you!