Who Do You Love?

It is a simple question, really.  Who do you love?  If you can answer that question, it gives you the answer to a lot of other questions too. Here are some questions it will answer for you.

What should I do in life?
Where should I go?
Why do I do what I do?
How should I spend my money?
Do I I use the word "do" to much?

Okay, it may not answer that last one, but it will answer the others and many more besides.

First, let's set one rule.  You have got to be honest with yourself.  You know who you are supposed to love and you know you can try and justify not loving them, but you just have to do it anyway.  Scripture is clear in this one thing (that is actually two things), "Love God with everything at your disposal and love your neighbor just like you do yourself."  When asked to clarify the whole neighbor bit, Jesus made it pretty clear that a neighbor was anyone that is not you.  So the people included in the list of those we are supposed to love is pretty large.  I think the only ones left out are...hmmm, can't think of any right off hand but I will get back to you on that.

That being clear, how does knowing who we love answer these questions for us.  Perhaps it will help if we define love real quick.  Not an easy task, but let us start with what it is not.  Love is not about only liking those people who treat you well or bless you.  Love is not about your enjoyment.  Love is not about being satisfied with the circumstances of a relationship.  The best way i have come to understand love is to put others first in all situations.  1 Corinthians tells us that love does not seek its own and it is not puffed up.  Real love simply does not look to please itself.  Real love is about blessing others and lifting them up.  God is love.  Everything God does is motivated by His love for us.  He demonstrated that love for us by dying on the cross and suffering that shame on our behalf.  This is what love really is.

So, how do you figure out who you love?  Well, who do you lay down your life for?  Who do you seek to bless and get nothing in return from?  Who do you carry and not expect them to carry you?  I know, I know, who can do this?  I struggle myself.  I can't even love my wife perfectly.  Most often, I am more concerned about her loving me.  However, there are occasions when I am struck by a capacity to love her the way I have been called to and I let her have the last of my lemon cookies. 

Is it really that simple?  Yes, but make no mistakes about how hard it is.  Simple just means that it is not complicated.  It is extremely hard to love sometimes.  If it was easy, then we would not need Jesus to do it through us.  If it were easy, we could just love, love, love all day long and not break a sweat.  But love is a hard conscious decision to put someone else before yourself.  Not only that, we can grow in our love.  While it is a truly deep act of love to let my wife eat my special reserved lemon cookies, I could have just bought her some cookies that she enjoyed and not myself.  Or even better, I could have gotten cookies for the entire tri-state area (been watching Phineas and Ferb?).  Do you see how love is real in small steps and it gets more influential as you grow and increase in your capacity to love.

When you know who you love, it makes decisions so easy.  What do I do today?  If it helps me love, I am all for it.  I may need some clarification as to how to best go about it, but I know that if it does not help me love, then I should not be doing it.  Where should I go?  Why should I do what I'm doing when I get there?  What should I spend my money on?  Love is not just a great motive, it is a great guide.  Love not only covers over a multitude of sins in other people, it keeps you from those same sins yourself.  Kind of hard to be a selfish jerk when you are acting in love.

So, my prayer for the tri-state and Evansville today is that we would all grow in our capacity to love God and to love others.  As we become more like Jesus, we will learn to love like He did and that will set this region free from darkness.  May we be a people known by our love.