A World Class Lover

Three words, I love you, are some of the most wonderful words in the world.  Giving and receiving love makes life worth living, really! When I tell Bev (my wife of 40 years) that I love her, we both experience joy. When my adult children tell me that they love me, I find strength for the day!  When I read Jason’s (my nephew) Facebook posts about his creative ways of loving his little children, my emotions are stirred.  When I am privileged to love some hurting person in the Name of Christ Jesus, it’s a good day.  When I take the Cup and Bread in Holy Communion and remember the gracious love of God that erased my guilt, restored my life, and makes me right with Him,  love is there.

Last week my daughter spent the week in our home with her baby boy, Gio, who is loved. Even at 5 months he is learning how to respond to others with love. He is secure in his parents’ love and affectionate care. From that he gains a great advantage in life.  Children who are not loved are more damaged than those who are malnourished! Many kinds of addictions, compulsive behaviors, defensive mechanisms, and phobias are rooted in love hunger.

When an adult is selfish, miserable, critical, mean, insecure, or unforgiving as a way of life– you can be sure that there was some kind of deficit of love experience in their past.  We find healing in love. That is why the Gospel is centered around this - “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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:16-17, NIV)  John also was inspired by the Spirit to teach us to love.  He says, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1 John 4:7-8, NIV)  Love, not piety, not religious devotion, not eloquent prayers, shows that we are God’s children.

Christians, because of their experience of an ‘out of this world’ kind of love will be world class lovers! What does that look like?  We need not wonder.  The Word tells us what mature, whole, godly love is.

"If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere.
So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have. Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,

Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end. "

"But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.
And the best of the three is love." (1 Corinthians 13:3-7,13, The Message)

Reading that it is obvious that no one can love another in that way naturally or consistently. That kind of world class love is only possible when we are loved, changed from the inside out, by the Divine Lover.

Here is the word from the Word for this Monday morning.  Let God love you and go love others. It is a grand way to live. "We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. (complete) So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world. Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of judgment, and this shows that his love has not been perfected in us. We love each other as a result of his loving us first." (1 John 4:16-19, NLT)

__________

One Thing Remains (Your Love Never Fails)

Higher than the mountains that I face,

Stronger than the power of the grave,

Constant in the trial and the change,

One thing remains,

One thing remains.

Your love, Your love, Your love will never change.

Your love never fails,

It never gives up,

Never runs out on me.

On and on and on and on it goes,

It overwhelms and satisfies my soul,

And I never ever have to be afraid,

One thing remains.

One thing remains.

In death;  in life;  I'm confident and

Cover'd by the power of Your great love.

My debt is paid there's nothing that

Can separate my heart from Your great love.

Your love!

Brian Johnson | Christa Black Gifford | Jeremy Riddle

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