The Misconception of Love.

water blog love

To be loved, Truly. Is an extraordinary thing. Love, like water, May gently trickle from the heavens. Or forcefully create a tsunami's devastation. Why am I at peace? Why am I content? What brings me joy each morning? Being loved. Not a temporary love but an eternal one. The cynics will say I'm mad, That I do not live on the plane of reality. My heart aches. Behind each cynic is a child who was exposed to the darkness of the world which had the audacity to call human-centered things Love. The optimists might think I'm trying to ruin their daydreams, So excited for what love will do for them. A magic word that takes away the loneliness. The truth is Love has been slandered and we believed the enemy's well-placed lies. Love's sacredness was taken and is now seen without virtue. An infamous reputation butchered, we the violent mob, cried for blood. And blood is what we got. Love is not human. Our instincts call for survival, for Self-preservation, greedy for temporary pleasures. In and of ourSelves we cannot Love. We are centered by our very Selves and maintaining our own balance tends to outweigh Self-sacrifice. Love is divine. To be kind. To be compassionate. To be patient. To forgive. To not hold grudges. To encourage growth. To create a space of freedom. To love without expectation of anything in return. It is not free but comes at great cost to one's Self. Not by works, not for reputation, not for power over another. Not to validate yourSelf and feed Self-righteousness. Beware of false humility it is more cunning than the blatant enticement of the world. Law forces the human to practice a basic amount of the results of Love. Do not steal, murder, rape, covet, fornicate, lie and so the list goes on. Why are there so many people in prison? There are many who also should be but aren't. Law promises punishment to those who break it and is a threat to those who consider it. If thoughts were as punishable as actions, we'd likely all be in prison with no society to be run. Unfortunately, Law does not cure the savage part of man. This is about that time the nation's need a hero. A Saviour. Thank God He provided one. HimSelf. His Son. It's not strange at all that we might think this odd, stupid, ignorant or as bait for ulterior motives. Even cruel, who could allow their son to die for their enemy?

IF God is anything like us. Take a moment to ponder what He would be like if not human. You may draw a blank or be terrified He's capable of easily ending yourSelf. Preservation instincts don't like to ponder that one too long. Denial is the boat of the ignorant set on course to their deepest fears. Do not be on it. We cry, we create legends, we idolise a heroic person who would die in the place of a person they cared for. Half of us have hearts that feel they've been stabbed, the rest may have the urge to stab the people responsible for the tragedy. I've been both. I've also been the small percentage that might not want to let the topic linger in my mind. That way I explained love? For family or dear friends is plausible though it comes with that price to ourSelves. And what of those people we do not know, or like, or hate, or are the most despicable of humanity. What of the worst of criminals that are ready to get the needle, that lethal injection. Do we want to love, or sacrifice, or fight our survival instincts and die for them? I'm sure we all recoil in unison at the thought.

There are four vital facts you should know before continuing living your life:

1) We are ALL sinners. ALL of us fALL short of righteous perfection. God looks to the hearts of man. He will convict your own heart of this knowledge.

2) We have a Saviour. The Son of God, Jesus Christ died for us. Why? Because He is not like us. He is God. Here comes the topic that God is Love. Not our cringe-worthy human connotations of limited, conditional, what-do-I-get-out-of-it kind of “love”. Not the love synonymous with greed, idolatry, lust and pride. Not that one that causes brokenness and pain. Not that false thing which sin flourishes under. Not that thing that as you eat of it, gives you progressively worse hunger until you are dust and bone.

You may look around and see anguish, pain, suffering, the hatred, the greed, the vulgarity and the hopelessness within ourSelves.

You may blame God.

IF He is like us.

But He is that sacred, limitless, freedom-giving, joy-fulfilling, blessed, assured, compassionate, wise, slow to anger, redeeming, understanding, awe-inspiring, holy, good God. His attributes know no limit.

The biggest lie we accepted is not believing God is good, that stops us from searching for the Truth. If you seek Him, you will find Him. He does not evade us, like we do Him. When you find Him, you will know tender earth-shattering conviction and Love.

He spoke the evidence of His creation, He gave His Son to take our justified lethal injection.

If we acknowledge that His Son died for all of us, His own enemy, how could He not be the author of that sacred Love itself? He arose three days after being crucified in the place of ourSelves.

He died for you, dear reader. For He in and of Himself loved us before we loved Him. By being Himself.

I am free to know Love, intimately. God's Holy Self (spirit) came forty days after His resurrection, to reside in all those who believe in what Christ did. Through genuine repentance (understanding the horrific thing of sin) and believing Christ died for you, you too can know this freedom. This Love. It is through being empowered by the Divine Love of God's Self that we can be different to the world and offer hope. The pain and suffering of the world is the consequence of us, with our gift of the freedom of choice, choosing Self and destruction over God's goodness and Love. Do you know why historians across the world over many centuries have agreed, believers and atheist alike, that the Bible is the most accurately preserved written book? The very content speaks the opposite of propaganda and manipulation. It speaks for Humility not for power. It calls people to sacrifice rather than to live for one’s Self. Any con artist would tell you that that's literally the worst way to enchant the masses.

Imagine: "Hey everyone would you like to speak about today's book club topic of Dying To YourSelf 101 and sub-topic of Loving Your Enemy to Your Death!" Big flashy smiles and a wink, like an advertisement. Obviously, we'd think these people are nuts and it has no appeal to our Self's centered ecosystem. That's why even people who don't believe do not dispute its legitimacy.

Why? Because only a human filled with the Lovely spirit of God could write such a thing. Only being influenced by the divine could something so Other be written. There's that boat of denial looking so appealing again.

If what I state is truth, do you want Love and freedom or the just consequences of your accumulated sins? Jump out the denial boat if you have to but do not die because you lack knowledge. Jesus is the way and the truth and the Life. Our repentance, His replacement and only His Holy blood blots out the stain of sin.

3) If someone I loved died for me I would tell everyone of that heroic person. If someone I hated died for me... I'd be speechless but that topic would spread like crazy. I would be humbled, in awe, I'd see each breath as a gift, I'd ponder decisions more carefully, I'd listen to wisdom and I'd hate what made him die. Sins. My sins.

Dear, beloved reader, Jesus died for you. Repent, believe in Him, draw near to His Word. The only important thing worth knowing is Him and His word.

4) He is passionate about His glory. Now if:

IF He was like us.

We'd say geez, how arrogant, self-centered and egotistical is that.

The God that is near to the brokenhearted, that Loves us, that died for us while we were an enemy of His very nature, who else is worthy of praise but Him? Who else could possibly deserve His right to His glory? Seek the entire universe for an eternity, you shall not find another. The Lord alone is God.

We watch a movie or read a book, see a hero dying for someone they loved we cry, we want to glorify them. Jesus died, rose from the grave, conquered, is victorious and has the right to set any person who chooses it, free. We must glorify such a King. This God of Love who introduces us to the divine. We must be passionate about His glory and through His aiding Spirit, Love others as He first Loved us.

Beloved reader, you can be free of the cancerous sin eating you alive, of the stench of shame. Because God Loves you in a way you could never earn it but only accept as a gift. Our privilege is sharing this gift with the captives we were once shackled next to.

May the Truth set you free.