Live a Life of Love.

This may be one of the biggest things I've been learning over the last 4-5 years. I like to talk about it with people, when I have the opportunity, but thought I would open up and blog about it. I guess I'm just not sure where to start...

So... we'll go from here.... what is love? Dictionaries define love as a deep affection for someone or something. Based on what I've been learning, I think that definition sucks. That's all that dictionaries - made by scholars and supposedly really smart people - can come up with? Psh. The Bible has a zillion references to love and what it is and what it should look like and where it comes from. I can't get into all of them but I will get into 1 John 4 where it says:

a. love is sacrifice
b. love has no fear
c. love first came from God; He is love
d. love is made complete in us

I like lists, and I'm now going to break this list down.

Sacrifice. What would love be without sacrifice? Love is selfless. I'm willing to guess that the most successful marriages out there are the ones where each person gives 100% of themselves, no matter what percentage the other person gives back. Jesus sacrificed everything for us. "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13). I believe that if you truly and sincerely loved someone, you would do the same.

No fear. We all know John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." We've all heard that before. But do we notice how it creates a beautiful contrast with the verse right after it? Verse 17 says, "For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." Love versus condemnation. SO MANY Christians live their lives under a shroud of condemnation about how sinful they are... how much of a screw-up they are... how they don't do enough praying or reading their Bible... and they live in fear of what those consequences might be... that God looks down on them. I've been there. But that's a pretty negative place to find yourself. Why don't we focus on the fact that we are LOVED. That we are a NEW CREATION. That we are FORGIVEN. Why don't we live in that? God is about LOVE not condemnation. There's actually freedom in that.

God is love. This emotion has always been a part of the Trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit since the beginning of time. He loved us first. It's a gift. And because He loved us first, we can love other people. Ephesians 5:2 says, "live a life of love, just as Christ loved us." Receive the love, accept it, and give it away. Love God, love people. The hard part is to love people no matter what. God loves all people the same, serial killer to your grandma to the guy who always takes your parking space in front of your house to a newborn innocent baby. Shouldn't I be able to love the people I see, the people I know, the people I don't like? Just because I disagree with something someone does, does that mean I stop loving them? No. Where would we be if God abandoned us because we do things He doesn't approve of? I can't even begin to speculate that idea. Enough said about that. I think you get my point.

Made complete in us. This is HUGE. God created us for relationship with Him. To make His love complete. That goes back to Genesis, to the fact that God is love, to the Trinity. He made us to share His love with us. It took me years before I realized this and it has truly changed my life. That's how much God loves us. It's why He created us.

There's a really cool analogy in my new favorite book that has contributed to changing my life and touches on most of the things I've been talking about. It's called The Shack by William P. Young. The analogy goes like this: "A bird's not defined by being grounded but by his ability to fly. Remember this, humans are not defined by their limitations, but by the intentions that God has for them; not by what they seem to be, but by everything it means to be created in God's image." If we as humans, allow ourselves to be grounded under a shroud of condemnation due to our sin and shortcomings, we're not living in what we were created for.

So that is a short summary of what God has been teaching me. Ha... hope it made some sense. And if you don't mind, I'd like to end it off with a suggestion. Give this a try: ask God to show you how much He loves you and what love is all about. I guarantee He will respond and it will be life-changing.

BAM.