Love can be a worn out topic. But we keep talking about it just the same. Mainly because there is a whole lot more talk about love than there is the exercise of love.
Man was created to experience and give love. And we are at our most broken state when we are not receiving enough love.
You really can only give about as much love as you receive. John told his disciples in I John 4:19 that “we love him because he first loved us.†It’s a basic law that unless you let yourself be loved you aren’t going to be giving much love. We all know people who just can’t let others close. And they aren’t often the most loving either.
Christmas season is the season most energized by the pursuit of love. Giving is a big part of love. I am not usually a gospel music guy but some friends took Lori and I to see Michael W. Smith. During intermission they offered an opportunity for everyone to sponsor a child in a third world country. The booths were packed. I thought, “Even in our challenging times you can’t hold down a spirit of love in people.”
So Christmas does exemplify the spirit of love. We learn we are to both give and receive.
The best Christmas present I ever received was a blanket my grandmother made with her arthritic hands. I have had it forty-five years. It’s tucked away now in a special place. I pause to look at it once in awhile and I remember the love I know my grandmother had for me. The best gifts are those that you make with your own heart and hands.
Last week I studied the section of scripture in I Corinthians that outlines what love is (I Cor. 13). I have a practical mind so I have to break things down into simple statements that work for me. I read this beautiful flowing chapter and set down what looked to me to be four blocks to love that need to be removed to express real love.
1. You can’t use others to serve your ends.
2. You can’t be condescending.
3. You can’t be without empathy.
4. You can’t see people as annoyances or in your way.
Really love goes beyond the good feelings you get from helping someone. We don’t help the needy so we can get a rush if we really love. And we have to have relationships that aren’t necessarily to our advantage if we are to have love. You have to ask how can I serve another’s dream and how can I give them a glow in their life today.
You can never love someone you feel you are superior to. You can only love partners. Conversely you can never love someone you feel inferior to. Love requires partners for there to be love. We are to see ourselves as fellow journeyers with needs we both have for the journey.
Love is known when you have let other’s pain into your heart. You have to “feel†what its like to walk in the shoes of one you want to love. If you can’t hurt with another you can’t love them either.
If you think people are in your way you aren’t likely to love them. But if you change your view to see that they are your way you then love. The first church staff I worked on we had a smelly very elderly old man who was hard to love in the church. Brother Ralph decided he was our self appointed major greeter. We tried to find ways to divest ourselves of Ralph. But we decided every church needed a Ralph in order to learn to love. And every family probably has a Ralph too.
So this Christmas seek to give love. And don’t forget to pause and let yourself be loved as well.
