Love by Choice

Love is one of the most overused words around. What meaning does it hold? Is it a feeling? Is it measurable? Does it come and go?

Yes and no.

I first thought love was a feeling, and it is. I thought love was commitment. It can be. I thought love was forever. Not the kind of love I had then. I thought I loved more than anyone else, but that was not enough. I thought love was freedom without bounds. It is not without bounds.

We love so many things such as:  our spouses, kids, pets, sports teams, ourselves, trees, homes, cities, collections of this or that, even money. Some of the things we are related to and others we relate to. But what would you die for? Anything?

That is a way to measure love. I would die for my family. I would not die for much else. To describe something we need adjectives and analogies. To measure something, we need a standard to measure against. To really understand something we need to experience it.

God is all of these and we need to experience Him to get to know Him.

We are to love the Lord our God. Wow, how is that possible? Without knowing God it is hard to simply love Him.

One of my first lessons learned is that to love God is to get to know Him. As I learn about Him by reading His words in the Bible, He ever so slightly uncovers the mystery of Him. The more I learn about who He is, the more He reveals Himself and the more I can love Him.

Is God only love? No. He has all the emotions we do. He certainly has different motivations than we do. All His emotions have to be contained within His goodness. He has no evil in Him. He is just, which means there are consequences. He shows mercy when we ask for mercy as those consequences were completed with Jesus on the cross. We only need to believe that, and ask God to show us mercy and forgive us for the unlovely things we do. Repent. That means asking for God's mercy and forgiveness with no hidden agendas or intentions to ever do it again. As humans, we tend to lean toward doing stupid things over and over. He knows that and every time we come to Him through Jesus with repentance in our heart, He is true to His word and forgives us.

Picture from clipart in Office

Here is my analogy. Many of us have chosen to have cats for pets. We desire our cats to choose to "love" us back, but cats are very independent. They want us to do all the work and, if they feel like it, they come love us back with rubs and purrs. Young children often want to make cats love them back. The children pick up a cat and hold it tight making the cat want to break loose. The relationship with cats is like what we have with God. He does all the work and we sometimes choose to acknowledge Him and love Him back. He does not force us to love Him but desires for us to talk to Him and spend time with Him. He wants relationship and is waiting right now for you to turn to Him and love on Him. He will return your efforts more than you can imagine.

God gives us choice, always, even when we tear up the curtains or "miss" the litter box. Love out of choice is so much more meaningful than if it is forced.

Choose to show love to others, without judgment, and do for them as we would like to have done for ourselves. Have you ever needed help and wished someone would just help you get through something? Start helping others get through their needs and you will find others helping you, too. 

God made us to willingly love Him and each other. Don't hoard your energy and love. Give it away, and it is returned to you many times over. 

 

In Him,
Frontier Woman @ frontierChristianLiving.blogspot.com