– 1 Corinthians 13:1-3
Love is essential. Love is what the Kingdom of God is all about. If we don’t have love, we gain nothing!
Love is a CHOICE
Love is an INVITATION
When we offer our love to someone, we are extending out an invitation. We lay it on the table, and cannot control the outcome. The person we are extending our love to can either accept it or reject it. We have given them the choice to receive it or not. We have given them the power. The power to decide. They have the control. If you have ever been rejected when doing something out of love, you know what I’m talking about.
Love is RISK
When we love, we put ourselves on the line. We take a chance that when we love another, it will not be received by them. We don’t have any influence of the outcome, it’s their freedom that eliminates any control we have. We risk all that we know to be comfortable for the unknown. The possibilities that may follow (ex. A better relationship or the last straw in rejection). We risk ourselves. We risk heartbreak when we genuinely care for that person.
Love is HEARTBREAK
When we get rejected, it hurts. It hurts to feel un-noticed or unappreciated. We reach out from a deep place within our hearts and when that it rejected, we feel that we gave our complete selves for nothing. We offer our whole self and when that isn’t received we feel insignificant.
Love is GOD, and all that comes with it.
We know love because we know God. “God created man in His own image.” (Gen 1:27) “…since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:11) God made people who have freedom. Freedom to love God or not to love God. And these people constantly choose NOT to love God. “The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.” (Genesis 6:6). God is heartbroken. God has a heart that feels, that responds, that fills with pain. God is…grieving. And we people are the cause of this grieving. The very people who God made to have freedom. Freedom to love anybody they want. God takes a giant risk in creating and loving people, and in the process God’s heart is broken. The Bible tells a story of a living being who loves and who continues to love even when that love is not returned. A God who refuses to override our freedom, who respects our power to decide whether to reciprocate, a God who lets us make the next move.
God has…
Handed his heart over to us taking the risk that we’ll hand it back. He has given us power. He has let us choose what to do with his love offering. He has given up control. He surrendered his desire to control us. He is that serious about loving us that in love he offers himself and surrenders all of the desires to manipulate the relationship.
God hasn’t…
Showed up in power and in might when it comes to loving us. This would scare us off, and most likely has already for many of us. He spoke through prophets, not a booming thunderous voice. Have you ever wondered what would happen if God did actually speak to us in that thundering voice that we stereotypically cry out for? (just like the movie “Bruce Almighty”). God doesn’t just showed up in his completeness. God is holy. When God spoke to Moses through the burning bush, “…Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.” (Exodus 3:6).
Why not?…
If God showed up to us in his fullness we wouldn’t come as we are. We wouldn’t come in strength. The last thing we would perceive would be love! We would be fearful. We would either be struck dead by his sheer holiness or run further away from him in fear of dying.
The RELATIONSHIP…
