ABUNDANT LIFE MINISTRIES

(February 15, 2010)
"This Is How We Know What Love Is"

What if a friend of yours walked into your home with a shoebox on each foot claiming it was their new shoes. They did everything in their power to convince you that the things on their feet, which was so obvious to everyone else were shoeboxes, were shoes. The reason you would not be convinced they were shoes is because they do not share the same properties as shoes. For example, they have no sole, no traction or grip on bottom, they have no kind of shoe lace or strap across the top, they have no durability, thus they will tear up very quickly, and to top it all off, instead of helping and aiding the person in walking they actually became an obstruction and hindrance in their ability to walk. To sum it up, they are using something out of its purpose, and don’t even realize that is what they are doing.

As outrageous of a scenario as this seems, people are found using things out of there purpose all the time. Nowhere do I see this more then in the area of “Love.” Things that should be obvious to the person who is claiming to have love are not obvious. They go around “stamping” the word love on the things they have a strong emotion or feeling for, even if what they are claiming to love (the something or someone) does not have any of the real properties of love. Why do we claim to love things or people, then weeks or months later we don’t want anything to do with them any longer? I believe it is because we use the word “love” as an adjective. An adjective is a descriptive word that paints a picture of how something looks, tastes, feels, sounds, etc. In other words, you make me feel good, therefore I love you….I am attracted to you, therefore I love you…We’ve been through so much together…therefore I love you. We often base the word love on a temporary feeling or emotion…but love is so much more!

Love is the PERMANENT nature of God, it is unwavering, unchanging, it is consistent, and unmoved. When we say, “I love you” to someone, what we are saying is, “I am permanently going to have the nature of God toward you and that is never going to change.”

1 John 3:16-18 (NIV) This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

The verse above clearly states, “This is how we know what love is.” This is how we will be able to determine if what we have is the real properties of love. This scripture tells us that the way Christ laid His life down for us, is the way we should lay down our lives for our brothers (fellow man). This is what love looks like THE LAYING DOWN OF OUR LIVES…Life meaning the soul; the seat of feelings, desires, affections, intense likes and dislikes.

This means a life given up in favor of another:
My feelings, desires, likes and dislikes surrendered…
My feelings, desires, likes and dislikes abandoned…
My feelings, desires, likes and dislikes put aside…
My feelings, desires, likes and dislikes released…
My feelings, desires, likes and dislikes yielded…

Do you get the idea yet? Christ had to have his life laid down to carry out the purpose God had for Him, He couldn’t have subjected Himself to all those things, the beatings, the mocking, the torture, and abuse without His human feelings, desires, likes, and dislikes being put to death. It is not about you, your wants, desires, feelings, but it is about others. Love is laying self down for someone else, being the answer God created you to be for someone else, not letting the way you feel, your desires, likes and dislikes, determine the way you respond to God and your fellow man. Can you begin to imagine this real love being applied to marriages, parent/child relationships, friendships, strangers, etc., and not the temporary, divorcing, imitation love that we have come so accustomed to… Again I say, “THIS IS WHAT LOVE LOOKS LIKE!”