A friend of mine named Kevin and I have been pouring deeper into passages of the Bible that we used to breeze over. There's a song by The Rocket Summer that says: "...when you open up a book and read a thousand lines but you don't really read, you just move your eyes." It doesn't matter if you've read something your whole life, if you slow down and truly analyze the depth of what it is saying, words will jump out at you and you'll discover a meaning you never knew.
It's as beautiful as the One who inspired its depth.
I was bouncing around and checking out different sections I've read many times over in my life. I came to 1 Corinthians 13 and it's section on love.
"Love is long suffering" jumped out and bit my face.
I realized something, there was a period of my life that I spent about three years without going to church or really talking to God at all besides demanding he give me things. It really made me think about the fact that during that time, even though I didn't want anything to do with my Father who loved and yearned for me, he waited for me.
He was the picture of the long suffering Lover. Some people he's waited an entire lifetime for only to finally receive the deserved affection in their last days and at the end of their life.
Just that revelation made me stop and put something into perspective... do I really understand the depth of what it means to love. Just the first description of love being "long suffering" wasn't truly understood in the depth it deserved.
I know that I love my brothers, sister, parents and friends - but do I get the depth of what I'm saying. God is Love, I know this. "You will know them by their love for each other." It goes on and on. There are so many things I've read about love and I do have a very good grasp of what it means, but how can I pretend to make demands about wanting to love a girl or wanting to love people if I'm not dedicating myself to understanding exactly what that means.
Earlier in 1 Corinthians 13, " 1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."
When the disciples asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, he replied "‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Love. Love. Love.
Or as the Beatles sang: All you need is love. I don't believe this is ALL you need, but even the secular world admits that love is one of the greatest things you can ever attain.
Both of the above verses demonstrate the importance of love. If loving God and each other are the greatest commandments, how can I be maximizing my potential as a man or as a Christian without truly understanding the depth of love.
I could go on for hours about the depth of what I have been discovering about love, but I'm not writing a book... though that's a good idea ;)
One other detail though, on the subject of what 1 Corinthians 13 says about love, it says not to be envious or puffed up. I see, as relative to my current predicament, to not be 'puffed up' and think I deserve more nor should I be envious of others for my Father chooses what to give and is perfect in His will and what he distributes to each of us.
Be careful to define words by what the world has told you they mean. We are to search the word and our Spirits to find out what things such as 'the greatest gift' truly are about.
Especially if we seek to be loving husbands or wives.
Lastly, in order to be able to love people, we must also be willing to allow ourselves to be loved. I've been noticing this duality of how a love song can be about how you feel about a member of the opposite sex as well as how God loves us. We must love and be loved.
How can we love someone and not receive it from the One who created it?
He needs to be our first and greatest love. We are only going to be able to give the perfect love that we want to show to someone by getting as close as possible to the Source. We can't do it on our own. We can't begin to understand it and maximize our ability to love unless we're reflecting it from Him living within us, teaching us and redefining its meaning on a daily basis.
I want to love like he loves me. And I want to study and master what it truly is to love so that someday I can be the greatest lover that I can be and shine His light through the girl He has chosen for me.
It isn't just for you. Like all things, you can understand it for selfish reasons or you can live like Christ and be a servant.
I want to love for her. I want to love for Him.
Selflessly.
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