Imported from Facebook - LOVE

Its the day after valentines. Yesterday, some of you felt loved, blessed, special. For others, it was a disappointment. A reminder that you are alone or that your relationship lacks qualities that you had hoped for. Then theres the people who played 'love', buying the right things, saying the right things, going to a nice restaurant but your hearts were empty and you didn't feel the things you expected too, those warm, fuzzy, 'in love' feelings that we hope for.

Heres the deal. We live in a world were genuine love is a rare gem, most likely because most of us don'teven know what true love is. We think that the passion and undying, devoted love in the great classics of fiction is simply that, fiction. We expect relationships to fail. We expect bitter endings. We believe that some relationships are unfixable. This is a lie my friends. Let me tell you about true love.

We also take marriage vows so lightly... heres how it goes....

First I am going to write the vows, then break down the reality of how we think of the vows.

Do you, _____________, take this woman/man, _______________, to be your wife/husband, according to God’s holy decree; do you promise to be to him/her a loving and loyal husband/wife, to cherish and keep her/him in sickness and in health;and, forsaking all others, to be faithful only to him/her as long as you both shall live?


'According to God's holy decree' - "I don't believe in/care about/know God, but God is supposed to be in wedding vows, right? What are His holy decree's anyway?"

'Loving and Loyal' - Sure I love him/her, but people change and I'm not going to be loyal if I am miserable, we might as well get a divorce. I can't help it if we fall out of love, but we'll cross that road if it comes to it.

'Cherish' - I sure cherish her right now, she's so pretty in that dress. As long as she/ he doesn't do that annoying thing/nag/put on weight, we'll cherish each other just fine.

'In sickness and in health' - I love him/her but if something really bad happens, like they are paralyzed, or in a coma, I can't be expected just to live that way, I have the right to be happy, maybe find someone new. Or if she/he has mental health problems, I just can't deal with that mess. Or, if they get an addiction, I just won't be around that. I can't be with someone who cares about drugs/alcohol more than me.

'Forsaking all others' - Except myself of course, if I'm not happy, if its too hard, if she/he won't admit they are wrong, if he/she stops me from following my dreams/desires.

'Being faithful to him/her as long as we both shall live' - Love isn't forever and you can't help who you fall in love with. If I fall in love with someone else, thats not my fault. I won't be miserable being with someone I don't love.

Ok - so at this point, you are thinking that I am a BIG pessimist. You are thinking that I don't have much faith in the human race. Well, actually you may be right, under most conditions.

In this age, love is subjective, its all about feelings and ME ME ME ME ME. I'm not happy. I'm not getting what I want. This is to hard for ME. Love isn't a choice, its a warm fuzzy feeling where we have lots of good love making.

We aim to please ourselves. Let me describe REAL love to you.

If you want real love, if you are tired of having your heart broken, feeling unwanted, rejected, please do keep on reading.

This is REAL love, please, read this....you may be very very familiar with this, you also may have never read it before.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails

Now you are thinking, who loves me this way?

The answer to number one is simple....

John 3:16

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Jesus Christ. He loves you so much that He gave His life for you. God, the creator of heaven and earth loves you so perfectly, that He died for you.

Regardless of who you are, anything you have done, thought, felt. Whether you are a Doctor or a cleaner, a rich man or a begger, on the PTA or a drug addict, raise money for charity or a murderer...

You cannot stop God from loving you. He created you and He desires a relationship with you.

Once we have given our lives to Christ, we can then in turn, through Him, learn to love others as He loves us.

I do not believe that any human being can genuinely love as 1 corinthians describes WITHOUT God. Because I believe we are born sinners, we naturally want to do what is best for number one. While we are looking out only for ourselves, how can we possibly love each other?

Lets re do those vows, this time, thinking about what 1 corinthians says, thinking about God's love, and the love He hopes we will have for each other and Him.

'According to God's holy decree' - I will make it my desire, my choice, my goal to understand and learn God's decrees so I can love this person the way He desires.

'Loving and Loyal' - Lord, help me to know genuine. Remind me that love is a choice, of new choices all day and everyday to do the loving thing regardless of my own feelings.

'Cherish' - This person is a gift from the Lord, my God created partner. I will praise the Lord for him/her every day and rejoice in the beautiful person God made.

'In sickness and in health' - No matter WHAT. I will serve this person, I will be by their side, I will do whatever it takes to do the right thing.

'Forsaking all others' - Even if its tough, even if they hurt me, even if I feel unloved, even if sometimes I have to put my dreams aside, even if it feels onesided, even if sometimes I don't want to be in this marriage anymore, if made this vow and I will keep it and will do my best to make this work.


'Being faithful to him/her as long as we both shall live' - No matter what happens in life, how we change, physically, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, I will be faithful.

Loving should not be dependant on the way someone acts, what they believe, how they treat you - we should choose to love REGARDLESS.

This is the way God loves us. Even though we are sinners, even though we blaspheme His name, deny Him, ignore Him, despise Him, fight Him, run away from Him. He LOVES you.

He is waiting for you with open arms.

My prayer for you is that you will really think about these things. If you want to talk to me about it more, please send me a private message, I'd love to talk