Resolving What Love Really Is

And I fell in love with God.
Yes, the Living God. Who devotedly breathed The Breath of Life into me. The God Who daily loads me with blessings and new day presents. The One Whose attention I am, for I am, like you, the apple of His eye. The One Who has empowered me to multiply and increase; to live well, to live blessed. The only wise God Who has given me the liberty to live, liberty to love.

When He breathed the breath of Life into me, He empowered me to increase in all that He is - love, joy, peace, health, wealth, strength. The list goes on. What a privilege to be loved by Him.

But to realise that Love, to become conscious of that Love, I am having to die sometime, many a times, to myself - my own needs, my own desires, my own wants. That’s the notion of surrender. Succumbing, yielding, so that I might live – truly live, God’s way.

Galatians 5 verses 22-23 clarifies.
‘’But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.’’

Learning Love from Father Abraham
In the book of Genesis chapter twenty two, the Bible records Abraham’s celebrated odyssey and remarkable action of total surrender. Organized and set to sacrifice his son to the living God, Abraham astonishingly determined the sacrifice and passage as an act of worship.

What became Abraham’s recompense for this great act of surrender? Deliverance from having to physically sacrifice his son, and a special return from God. Verses 9-18.

The God Who ever lives to make us whole
One of the things that really blows my mind about God is that He ever lives to make us whole. He is absolutely and totally committed to our well-being, our healing, and our prosperity. That’s love with a capital L.

‘”Hardly,” I hear you say, “He never saved my marriage. He didn’t prevent that rape. He didn’t prevent that bankruptcy.” Very well, God may not have prevented those terrible events from happening, but He is so totally and absolutely committed to you being emotionally, mentally, spiritually and physically healed from them so that you can know the blessed life that He has promised.

Sometimes in life we come into contact with tragedy because of the decisions we either made or did not make. Likewise, we also come into contact with incredible joy because of the decisions we did make. Sadly, we can often encounter tragedy through no fault of our own – the sexual abuse you suffered as a child which drew you into confused adulthood; the untimely death of a parent which saw you growing up at the mercy (or lack) of dreadful relatives; that stepmother who controlled your father and saw to it that only her own children, not you and your blood siblings, were sent to school. Where is The Love in all of this? Where is the God that is committed to making me whole and why is He has allowed this great pain in spite of His Love?

But this is where the paradox lies.
It is in the famine of our emotions, the dearth of our financial wealth, the incapacity of our human intellect to repair the gaping holes in our lives that we realise that we ourselves do not always have the answers, solutions and remedies for life’s pressing challenges. But there is a Living God Who provides freedom and liberty even in amongst the mess. His invitation was and remains “come unto Me all you who are weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest.”

When God sent Christ from the majesty of heaven to planet Earth, He gave us, in Love, a Saviour. When the Saviour momentarily died, God felt yet more pain for His Son – imagine that separation. However, His pain was relieved by the great exchanged that took place at The Resurrection. Through that rebirth, God could have His Son back with Him in heaven, and He could also have us reconciled with Him.

But how does that translate into our every day living?
What can we learn from this and how do we cultivate the art of living from this insight? Perhaps we might try these: expressing love to family and friends through consistent acts of kindness; being available to listen, to advise, to laugh, to play. Choosing to appreciate their hope, their pain, their joy, their commission.

Being ready to forgive, to make that phone call, to send that email, to make that visit. It’s the notion of sacrifice again. It means being true to each of our calling to serve others in love – whether that is our calling as a friend, sibling, spouse, or parent. It’s hard, believe me I know, but I tell myself I must try, and try, and try again.

I Corinthians 13
One of the deeply celebrated chapters in the Bible is the love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13. The last verse of that chapter directs us to “Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.” Love extravagantly. Galatians 5 verses 13-15 expands: “it is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don't use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that's how freedom grows. For everything we know about God's Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom.”

Selah.