Love

Imagine that…another blogger writing about love. Very original, Matt, very original. Well, at the risk of becoming just another random dude on the internet exploring and explaining his thoughts on love to an audience of all of about three people, I am going to do just that. However, let not your heart be troubled; I’m not going to tell you what love is and what it isn’t and that if you don’t agree with me you’re incorrect and immature and all that stuff. No, I want to talk about our application of love.

My inspiration for this post comes from one of my favorite poems, “How Many, How Much?” by Shel Silverstein. The poem goes like this:

How many slams in a screen door?

Depends how loud you shut it.

How many slices in a bread?

Depends how thin you cut it.

How much good inside a day?

Depends how good you live ‘em.

How much love inside a friend?

Depends how much you give ‘em.

Think of metaphors we use to describe our relationships with others. We value people. We invest in people. Our relationships can be bankrupt. The list goes on. What I’m driving at here is that we tend to use love as a commodity. We assign value to people based on what they have done/can do/will do for us, and then return the favor only so they will keep doing things for us. I am only 19 years old, and I might not know everything that love is, but I have a pretty firm grasp on what it is not. “If you love me then I’ll love you” is not love. That sounds more like a contract than a commitment. We have developed a sense of obligation rather than devotion. The bottom line is, we distrust each other. If you tell my secrets, I’m telling your secrets. This is no way to live life.

Why do we distrust each other? I think it is because we are all insecure with ourselves. We are always focused on ourselves, and this constant self-examination exposes all of our flaws and short-comings. At some point, each one of us realizes just how pitiful we are, and so we do whatever it takes to make all the other pitiful people around us think we are less pitiful than them.

Take a look at Adam and Eve. They lived together in a state of complete innocence. Then, enter serpent, stage right. After a brief exchange about which fruits were and were not off-limits, “The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves” (Genesis 3:6-7).

Adam and Eve were ashamed. Their eyes were opened, and despite the beauty God saw in them, they became insecure. Think about it. Why are dreams about being naked in front of a crowd so embarrassing? We are insecure. We are flawed, and because of that, we are ashamed.

What is the solution? Let Jesus be the satisfaction of your soul! Nevermind what other people think! Who cares? Only one opinion matters:  God’s. And apparently He found you so valuable, so precious, so beautiful, that He became flesh like me and you, and He allowed Himself to be mutilated beyond recognition so that we would understand that love is not a commodity, not something to be bought, sold, or traded. Love is something God gives freely, and in doing so He sets an example for us. He loves us furiously, regardless of whether or not we love Him back, and so we should love others (and ourselves, for that matter) regardless of whether or not they love us back.

“We love because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:25-26