How wonderful that each year we designate February 14th to celebrate the power of love. Now if only we could dedicate ourselves to the daily expression of the amazing wonder of love, what a wonderful world this would be. But love is not always so easily expressed or experienced. In fact, it often eludes us. Love is hard.
Why?
Love requires sacrifice and that is a demanding thing for our selfish nature to offer. Humanity most readily and easily seeks to satisfy personal desires rather than pursuing efforts to fulfill the desires of others. We would much rather experience pleasure over displeasure and ease over discomfort. Every. Single. Time. We succumb naturally to selfish behaviors and greed. It’s just the way we are hardwired.
Observe a two-year toddler having a temper tantrum and you will soon bear witness to our true selfish nature. We are simply born this way.
As we age and mature, of course, we learn more about what it means to act unselfishly, and we even attempt to do so. We have good intentions. And then we “Fall in Love” and we think that loving is going to be super easy now. We experience elated emotions, and the rose-colored glasses that we have adorned paint a pretty picture of peaceful bliss but it clouds our clarity.
The passing of time and the added pressures of life challenge our pre-conceived notions, and we soon realize that love is often difficult. And we fail miserably. We don’t get it right and we hurt those whom we love, or we take them for granted. Again, it goes back to the fact that love is a sacrifice. And even as adults, sacrificing our wants and desires for the sake of another is just not second nature to us. Even though I love my hubby, as pictured above, I sometimes fail to show him justhowmuch I do care for him. Sorry, Trev.
BUT ……there is one for whom love is His very innate nature - Jesus. He is the only one who fully understands the capacity of true love. And love for Him is not hard. It just is. And He was willing to sacrifice everything for us so that we could experience this kind of love as well. Whew. Inhale! It takes my breath away sometimes.
God willingly sent His only Son, Jesus, to us because He knew that humanity could never attain pure love on their own. After Adam and Eve (His first beloved human creation) choose their own selfish desires over Him, humankind went on a downward spiral, incapable of freeing themselves from the punishment of separation from God because of their fall. Humankind has repeatedly demonstrated its state of selfishness (sinfulness), apart from the love of God since the beginning of time. History books and current news events consistently show this to be true still today.
This has created a most disturbing problem. Without God’s transformational love we are depraved in our humanity and even though He still desires to be in relationship with His creation, our selfish sinful nature prevents that from happening.
The solution? God loved us so much that He sent His only Son to earth to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. And Jesus willingly surrendered Himself to His Fathers plan to give the ultimate sacrifice - His life in exchange for ours. He paid the penalty of our punishment (death and separation from God). Now, we can experience a reconciled relationship with our loving Father and receive a pardon from punishment. We merely must accept His gracious offer of forgiveness to renew a right relationship with Him.
Through His love we finally know what perfect love means. God is love. He transforms us to begin loving as He does. And while we will not, in our own power, get it perfect here, He promises to complete the work in us through the power of His Spirit.
So, no more rose-colored glasses for me. It's 20/20 vision now because of Jesus Christ. He is “the real deal” and I love Him so. I can see clearly now, and love freely. What a gift! Love is greater than fear.
HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!
Want to spread some love and cheer for the remaining days of February? Join us here and participate in our Fun Love and Kindness Challenge