SUMMER LOVE

What is love?

We love the beach. We love to watch sports. We love to hang out with friends. We love ice cream… Essentially we love certain activities, we love certain places, we love certain objects.

So different though, is the love we have for another individual. It should probably be a different word altogether.

As a kid, love is something you’re forced to say to your parents. Its something you get accused of and made fun of for on the playground… “Rocky loves Emily…” 

As you near High School, love takes on a new meaning. Love then becomes a pursuit of sorts. It becomes something everyone wants but is scared to give. In High School we hate our parents. Filled with teenage angst.

Following your graduation, love is more serious. Something sacred. Love is something reserved for your significant other, your family, your close friends.

Love is the basis of marriage. Love is the excuse for premarital sex. Love is the excuse for divorce— as the saying goes “I just don’t love her/him anymore.”

Love denotes affection. Love denotes exclusivity. Love denotes care and attention. Love denotes commitment.

DC Talk told us love is a verb. Media persuades us that love and sex are synonyms. Culture paints the picture that love is a trap we fall into and can fall out of.

Experience is perhaps our most telling teacher. Some are abused in the name of love. Most are used in the name of love. All lose the ones they name in love.

Love is sticky. Love is messy. Love is blurred and unclear. Love’s definition and application constantly elude us.

Loving someone means getting hurt. As C.S. Lewis said following the death of his wife: “With the love comes the pain; that’s the deal.” There is no love without risk. Everyone at some point or another in their life, will feel the results of broken love; that is, a broken heart.

I propose to you that we cannot understand love without understanding God and we cannot understand God without understanding love. God IS love—God and love are entirely inseparable. God connects His very identity with love. God is stuck on the concept of love. God can’t, won’t, will NEVER stop loving us.

God put the want for love in human beings. Its this love that draws us to Him. Its this love that gives Jesus’ death meaning. Its this love that gives our lives meaning.

For all the broken hearted pain, each tear of loneliness, every cheated commitment, tallied abuses, misted misconceptions, and the full range of raging emotions, don’t give up on God’s love for you.

Search His love and don’t give up until you find it.

8 months ago  /  4 notes