Ready to Love?

There is more to love than how you feel. You have to own it.
Possess it.
Make it yours.
Not take it lightly.
Love like Christ.
It's a tall order, I know, and only someone made from love can embrace it fully.
Someone like you.
Love Made You.
When I speak of the love that made you, I'm not talking about romantic love or erotic or even friendly love. Those are the loves we have based our relationships on (and we see how that's going). The Love that Made You is complete. Full. Absolute. Committed. Born of 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 4:7b-8, New International Version
You cannot be separated from what you are made of.
To be born of something is to have its very DNA embedded within you.
Wanting to love and to be loved is not enough to obtain love (Just ask the 75% of divorced individuals citing " a lack of commitment" as the reason for their separation, exceeding infidelity and even finances.*). Okay, don't want to ask them? Ask me. A "good" Christian woman. Saved, sanctified, and twice divorced. Lack of commitment certainly played a part in our choices.
And yes, I still desire to be married. I still desire beautiful, meaningful relationships with friends and family. I desire to be surrounded by complete love, even though I am still very much "incomplete".
Preparing ourselves to love like Christ is a form of self-care. The DNA of God within us will not be satisfied with anything less. Problem is we keep trying to fulfil an internal need with external resources, using worldly definitions of perfection as our measuring stick.
How's that working for ya?
Not Perfection. Perfected.
In a recent episode, former pastor now podcaster Tim Ross gave great clarity as to why so many marriages fail. Unmet, unexpressed expectations.
I wonder... are we expecting people to be perfect?
Are we expecting people to meet our
undisclosed,
uncommunicated,
unrealistic criteria?
Flawed beings like you and me are not the authors of perfection. God is the curator of perfect love, hence the reason
we
must
abide
in
him.
No one has seen God at any time. But if we love one another [with unselfish concern], God abides in us, and His love [the love that is His essence abides in us and] is completed and perfected in us. ~1 John 4:12, Amplified Bible, Classic Edition
God's love is perfect. We, however, are a work in progress.
But by living out the divine mandate of loving one another on earth as he loves all in Heaven, a perfected and mature love comes to fruition in us through the Holy Spirit. This love
embraces,
comforts,
prepares and protects.
It is a love not based on expectations, but on the essence of Christ.
To Be Ready to Love is to Live in Love
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. ~1 John 4:16b NIV
We must first be willing to live internally in the love we seek externally.
This is the self-care I need. Not just for myself, but for every form of love I desire in my life.
Have you ever heard someone say it was when they did the work of cultivating love within themselves that external love found them? Abiding in the complete and perfecting love of Christ opens us up to sharing - and receiving - earthly love the right way.
So... are you ready to love? There is more to love than how you feel. You have to own it from the inside out.
Possess it.
Make it yours.
Not take it lightly.
Love like Christ.
It's a tall order, I know, and only someone made from love can embrace it fully.
Someone like you.

Comments