What is love? Is it simply just a feeling we have occasionally or is it more than that? We say that we 'love' many things in our lives, but do we really love them? That person you love today may fail you tomorrow. Will your feelings for them stay the same? That job that you love so much today; you could be laid off of tomorrow. Will you still love it then? That brand-new car you just drove off the lot could be totaled in a second. Will you still love it if it's just a clump of metal sitting in your drive way? If the answer is a NO that is because these are all examples of infatuation not love. If you really love someone or something, your feelings for them would stay the same no matter what. So, what is real love? Well the truth is love can be described in many different ways, but in the end each description can be boiled down to God. God is love. We see in Romans 5:8 proof that God loves us. The bible says, " But God demonstrates his love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Now I want you to notice two words from the verse we just read; the word "demonstrates" and the word "still." These two words are what sets our earthly version of love apart from the pure love God has for us.

Notice the verse says that God "demonstrates" his love for us.... that means he shows us. God acts out his love for us, he doesn't just say "I love you" and expect you to believe him. God sent his ONLY son to die one of the most painful deaths for you. I don't know what greater act of love we could ask for. As if sacrificing his son wasn't enough; God demonstrates his love for us every day through waking us up in the morning and helping us go throughout life day to day. When someone truly loves you, they want to be with you throughout all the good and the bad no matter what. This leads us to word number two, 'still'. Romans 5:8 says, "While we were 'STILL' sinners Christ died for us. If God sending his son to die for us wasn't enough for you lets add a new dynamic to it. God sent his ONLY sonto die for our failures which includes all the lies we've ever told, all the judgmental thoughts that have ran through our heads, and all of the lust filled acts we've committed against God he STILL sent his son to die for us. That is true love. So, we now have a picture of perfect love in mind, but how do we, an imperfect species, love like God?

First, we let the love of Christ fill us. If you choose to walk around not believing that God really loves you as much as the bible says he does then you will never be able to fully grasp loving others. Ephesians 5:2 says, " Walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." We as Christians must walk in love every single moment of every beautiful day God blesses us with. This world can be a super cruel, scary and inhumane place at times; however, we must love through it. And though the world may seem unlovable at times we must remain strong in that no matter what evil is going on around us love triumphs over it. I am guilty of sometimes only wanting to express love to the people I am most familiar with or the people who are most like me, but you know the people who need our love the most are not our family and friends, but people we've never met before. We should be loving the people who are hurting from reasons unknown to us. We should be loving the people who voice different opinions from us. (This is a big one!!!) We should also be loving those who live completely different lifestyles from us. You know which people deserve our love the most... the 7 billion people of the world that may or may not live outside our comfort zone. We are called to love EVERYONE!!! Let me say this one more time for the people in the back... WE ARE CALLED TO LOVE EVERYONE!! We are not called to only love those who are kind to us or those that are beneficial to us in some way, but to love those who hurt you or ridicule you. We are called to love the "unlovable" just as much as the ones we deem worth our affection. Until we as Christians open our hearts to everyone, we will never be able to fully grasp love the way God intends us to.

The second thing we as Christians need to do in order to love like Christ is get over ourselves and love people in spite of who they are. Don't get me wrong you should still always protect your heart. In fact, Proverbs 4:23 says, " Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." I am totally not implying that we should let our guard down and allow some of the worlds wickedness in our lives; what I am saying is we need to learn to love with such passion that even when people are cruel and situations are tough that does not affect the way we love them and those around us. I am sure many of you have heard the saying "love the sinner, hate the sin" and that is a good way of looking at things... I mean that is what Christ has done for us; in spite of our horrendous sinful nature, Christ still died for us. Not only did Christ die for us, but he died for us knowing that we were going to continue to sin. If God can love us so recklessly even knowing how rough around the edges we are then why can we not love each other knowing we are all imperfect? Back to Proverbs 4:23, "... guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." Now picture this, you eliminate all of the hate, disappointment, and shame cluttering your heart and replace it with love. Imagine how full your life would be and how much of an impact you could have in the lives of others. No one is perfect, but God himself, but if we wake up every day and strive to love others the way God loves us then the world would be such a happier place.

I challenge you today to start looking at love more in focus. Who on this earth doesn't deserve love? The answer is no one. When you except Christ as your Savior you sign away your imaginary right to pick and choose who is worth your time. You are representing our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and anytime you choose to be hateful or judgmental you reflect poorly on our father. I know it can be hard to love certain people sometimes. You do not always want to love people who hurt you. You don't always want to love wicked people such as murderers and rapists. As hard as it may be, we need to love these types of people the most. Proverbs 10:12 says, " Hatred stirs conflict, but love covers all wrongs." The bad in this world ultimately will be destroyed one day. The Lord will come back and wickedness will flee. These people who have let evil win their hearts will have to answer to God one day. It Is not our place to hate them. We should embrace them with the love God has blessed us with and do everything in our power to shine God's light on this dark and sin infested world. We need to let these "unlovable" people know that they are loved and that they can be forgiven! Christ died for the sins of the worst person you can think of just like he died for mine and yours. God's love does not pick favorites so we shouldn't either. I promise that the moment you start letting love take over your thoughts and you start living a life where everyone can see the love of God radiating from you, you will be a much happier person. I know it's tough and some days you will fail, but in the end to live a life of love is worth the battle. You got this!

Love,

Morgan