Love❤️

Love. 4 letters, yet the emotion has incredible power. The bible tells us so many things about love. It tells us that God is love. Love is patient and kind. It doesn't behave rudely. It hopes and believes all things. It lays down it's life for others. It covers a multitude of sin. It casts out fear. It prefers others over one's self. It is the heart of Jesus. It draws us to Him and leads us to repentance. Love is also a command. As believers, we are to love one another. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. Let it abide in us. Love our spouse as Jesus has loved us. Put it on and let it bond us. Basically, make it the emotion and a
Ction that ties our life together. This emotion is incredibly easy when we FEEL it. On your wedding day or the birth of your children. When someone gives that affection to you or you invest into someone/something. These are all times love comes easily to us. It is the hard times that prove the depths of our love. The world tells us that love is a feeling we can throw around. We can love nail polish AND people! It tells us to follow our hearts and to throw it away when it is no longer working for us. Jesus' example of love is exactly the opposite. He shows us that love is the motivator to our actions. Love is shown by our responses. It is a sacrifice. It requires a life of prayer and constant reliance on the Father. It sees the failures and continues its purpose in spite of that. How contrary to the world's view of love! It is not about "me"- it is not selfish. It is not about gratification or pleasure. It is about sacrifice. As parents, we should TOTALLY get this one! Many sacrifices are made without thought! As spouses, a bit tricky. We want to love that same way, but sometimes our selfishnes misguides us. As children, we want to experience love. We love to recieve it with no expectations or recprication needed. Love. How does it even function outside of God?
  I have spent a lot of time studying love and how it looks in my life. It is sometimes so overwhelming when I see the actions God wants me to take. The great thing is, God is love. So I must rely upon Him. He is my example. If I love Him, then I will keep His commandments- because they are not burdensome. Really? Sometimes I feel like they are! Oh how the definition of man's love skews the reality of God's love. He is NOT burdensome. He is wonderful! He gives us power to love. I am burdensome! But He paid for that- in blood! His love kept Him on the cross. He desired to overcome death and defeat sin because He loves us. Me. He was fine up in heaven. He could have used the world's standard of love and threw us away- start over. But love. Love compelled Him. He was heartbroken over the thought of eternity without us. I cannot imagine the shame and burden our sin put upon Him, but He willingly walked that road. When we see Him with our last breath, we will not be consumed by our sin. We will be freed by His love. Oh Father, give us a love that lives for You and Your purpose in this world!
1 John 3:16&18:
"By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers...Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth."

1 John 4:7-8 :)