Wednesday, April 21, 2004
choose love! be love!
i have to do a persuasive speech for my speech class in a couple of weeks. i chose to talk about love. it's not that controversial of a subject, i know, but there's a twist to my talk. people often think of love as that fairy-tale love or "falling in love" as if you just happened to stumble upon it. my speech seeks to persuade my class to think of love as a choice, as an active choice that we make every day of our lives. it's something that doesn't just come or something that you fall into. it's something that you very actively choose to do so. when i read this, i thought he was reading my mind. part of my homework is done! thank you Lord!
What is love?
Love - so often we want it, but so seldom do we really, truly focus on
what it is.
Love is not a feeling. Happiness is a feeling.
Love is not an emotion. Anger is an emotion.
Love is not a “state”. Confusion is a state.
(So is Delaware, the first state in fact, but I digress…)
While love can have all of these expressions associated with it, it is
still more – so much more. Love is a decision.
What we are formed by and immersed in so often, though, is the worldly
interpretations and definitions of love, which are often short-sighted
and self-directed.
Let's review:
The world says that “love is blind”. The truth, however, is that LOVE
sees 20/20. It sees our imperfections, our sin and our failings – all
of our humanity, and says, “I still choose to love you.”
The world says that “love means never having to say you are sorry”.
That’s a crock. You want the truth? Ask a married couple. They’ll tell
you, “Love means having to say you are sorry A LOT.”
The world says that “love is give and take”. They’re half right. Love
is GIVE. The “and take” is often added out of fear…fear that the other
is not going to offer love back, fear that the other will take
advantage and manipulate and fear that we’ll be left with nothing in return.
There’s nothing “and take” about the cross. The Lord gives us Salvation
and we don’t even “take” that – we receive it.
The world says that “love is priceless”. Not true. Love carries a
price tag, a heavy one, and He picked up the tab, for you and for me. We
never could have flipped that bill, but Jesus paid the price.
The world also tells us that “love doesn’t come in a box”. Yes it
does. Love dwells in the “box” in every church, in the Tabernacle where
love dwells in the flesh, for you and I to adore.
The world tells us that “love doesn’t grow on trees”. Yes it does.
Love GREW out of a tree on Calvary that day. The tree of love was
planted on stony ground (our hearts) and the roots (Jesus’ blood) ran deep
below the earth, crushing sin and ushering in LIFE.
Pray today's verse, really pray it. Recite it, learn it and know it, remembering, too, that “we love BECAUSE He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
I once read, “A bell’s not a bell until you ring it. A song’s not a song until you sing it. Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn’t love until you give it away.”
The Christian knows where to find love in the midst of a world that does not. Offer love today, in its purest form, and you will wake up tomorrow more like God, who is love.
SALVATION GIVEN
“See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the
children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.” – 1 John 3:1
Decide to love. Seek love.
Without it you’re not really living…only breathing.
~ the Bible Geek
Even if you're not that religious, it still poses very good points about love. We often think of love as a verb, but don't forget that it can also be a noun. Be love!
What is love?
Love - so often we want it, but so seldom do we really, truly focus on
what it is.
Love is not a feeling. Happiness is a feeling.
Love is not an emotion. Anger is an emotion.
Love is not a “state”. Confusion is a state.
(So is Delaware, the first state in fact, but I digress…)
While love can have all of these expressions associated with it, it is
still more – so much more. Love is a decision.
What we are formed by and immersed in so often, though, is the worldly
interpretations and definitions of love, which are often short-sighted
and self-directed.
Let's review:
The world says that “love is blind”. The truth, however, is that LOVE
sees 20/20. It sees our imperfections, our sin and our failings – all
of our humanity, and says, “I still choose to love you.”
The world says that “love means never having to say you are sorry”.
That’s a crock. You want the truth? Ask a married couple. They’ll tell
you, “Love means having to say you are sorry A LOT.”
The world says that “love is give and take”. They’re half right. Love
is GIVE. The “and take” is often added out of fear…fear that the other
is not going to offer love back, fear that the other will take
advantage and manipulate and fear that we’ll be left with nothing in return.
There’s nothing “and take” about the cross. The Lord gives us Salvation
and we don’t even “take” that – we receive it.
The world says that “love is priceless”. Not true. Love carries a
price tag, a heavy one, and He picked up the tab, for you and for me. We
never could have flipped that bill, but Jesus paid the price.
The world also tells us that “love doesn’t come in a box”. Yes it
does. Love dwells in the “box” in every church, in the Tabernacle where
love dwells in the flesh, for you and I to adore.
The world tells us that “love doesn’t grow on trees”. Yes it does.
Love GREW out of a tree on Calvary that day. The tree of love was
planted on stony ground (our hearts) and the roots (Jesus’ blood) ran deep
below the earth, crushing sin and ushering in LIFE.
Pray today's verse, really pray it. Recite it, learn it and know it, remembering, too, that “we love BECAUSE He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
I once read, “A bell’s not a bell until you ring it. A song’s not a song until you sing it. Love in your heart is not put there to stay. Love isn’t love until you give it away.”
The Christian knows where to find love in the midst of a world that does not. Offer love today, in its purest form, and you will wake up tomorrow more like God, who is love.
SALVATION GIVEN
“See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the
children of God. Yet so we are. The reason the world does not know us
is that it did not know him.” – 1 John 3:1
Decide to love. Seek love.
Without it you’re not really living…only breathing.
~ the Bible Geek
Even if you're not that religious, it still poses very good points about love. We often think of love as a verb, but don't forget that it can also be a noun. Be love!
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quotable quotes
-
"To try is to risk failure. But risk must be taken because the
greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks
nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid
suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change,
grow, live, and love."
~unknown
"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."
~ Abraham Lincoln
"live a life that others will remember years from now, NOT because it pointed to you but because of how it pointed to the One who made you."
~ Mark Hart, the Bible Geek
"we grow up learning to become self-reliant, but really we need to be God-reliant"
"we could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box"
"never wound hearts that love u, never give them the endless pain, because wounded hearts are like roses that never bloom"
"there comes a time when we have to stop loving someone not because that person has stopped loving us but because we have found out that they'd be happier if we'd let go"
