So here is follow-up number one from the post I made a
couple of days ago: some thoughts on taking a risk to love.
We are called TO love. We are told that God IS love. Yet
not much discussion is had about BEING loved, RECEIVING love. Yes, it is “more blessed to give than to
receive,” but I think we short-circuit the wonder, joy, and blessing of love by
resisting receiving it. And I also think
that it is one of Satan’s greatest tactics to cripple us and keep us from
receiving the good things God has for us. If he can keep us from receiving true love, love that comes from God, he
will, in essence, be cutting us off from our very life-blood.
This applies not only to our relationship with God but also
to our relationships with others. I John
4:18 says, “There
is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do
with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” Fear is another
key tool Satan uses. If he can get us to
focus on the ways we have been hurt in the past, rather than on the Source of
love, we will be unwilling to open up to love again, from others and even
potentially from God. However, we are
all human and must understand that, even with the best of intentions, we are
still going to hurt one another at some point. Therefore, we must turn to God in the midst of our hurt so that He can heal
us and give us the capacity to love and be loved again. He IS perfect Love, and He will never do
anything to intentionally hurt us. His
discipline when we sin may be painful, but it is for our good, not harm, and I
Peter 5:10 says, “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.”
One way to think of it is in the
sense of a muscle (yes, I am a biology major, and sometimes God uses the
subject to give me some pretty cool analogies to explain His truth). When you exercise, you are virtually tearing
muscle, which then repairs itself. When
it heals, it is stronger than before. So, I think we are called to “exercise” love. C.S. Lewis wrote,
To
love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly
be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact,
you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully
round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up
safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe,
dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will
become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
We take a risk of getting hurt
when loving, but we must take that risk, because that is the only way to give
life…and receive it. When we do get
hurt, instead of closing ourselves off to love in the future, we should turn to
God, who can not only heal us, but make us stronger and capable of more love,
both giving and receiving.
