Upside Down Love

Ya know...

Love is something many think the world defines. Something they define. Something anyone can define. They're wrong. And boy am I grateful for that! God. Is. Love. Anything that doesn't fall in line with what God is and says is love is... Not. True. Love. 1 Corinthians 13 defines love. Matthew talks about a marriage being between a man and his wife (woman). Something no one shall separate. True love is very far from what the world defines as love. But God, He is love. And what's crazy is the one thing that's constantly described as unfailing, never ending, consistent is His love. That means through every moment, every ounce of discipline, every inch of wrath, every just decision made, everything He does is LOVING. It might be offensive, it may not feel good... but love is not always meant to feel good. True love experiences difficulty and comes out the other side. True love accepts Truth. True love puts others first. True love rejects wrong doing. True love calls out evil. True love is not silent. True love is unfailing. Our greatest example of True love is God Himself. The world doesn't show you what True love is... no matter how much they scream in your face telling you they are. God. Is. Love. His Word shows you what True love is and what it looks like. 1 Corinthians says that love rejoices with TRUTH. Not feelings. Truth. Additionally, Proverbs says our heart is deceitful above all else. Our feelings are deceitful. So when the world says "follow your heart" "do what you feel" OUR HEARTS ARE DECEITFUL. ABOVE. ALL. ELSE. So the world is telling you to trust the most deceitful thing about you. AND WE'RE BUYING IT! Love is truth, not feelings. The world says love is a feeling that can change. The Word says love is an action and a person who does not change. So... love like Christ. Love radically, unexpectedly, and constantly. Love by rejoicing in truth and not delighting in evil. Rejoicing in truth, requires noise. Truth isn't told in silence, it must be spoken aloud. Truth is not silent. Love is not silent. Loving like Christ isn't viewed as love to everyone. But it's the truest love they'll ever receive. Even if it offends them or their feelings or their truth... it is the best love they can get. God is truth. God is love. That means that truth is loving. All of His attributes work simultaneously, none of them contradict, none of them need to be adjusted. Even in His wrath, love abounds. His discipline. His wrath. It. Is. Love. Girls become filled with insecurities and they believe that to be loved they must dress immodestly, do everything on their own- even the simple things like opening a door, that they just need anyone to "love" them- even if they are abusive because being in a relationship makes them worthy in society's eyes. Why do girls and guys lower their standards? Because true love, real love in this world seems impossible. But it isn't. Rare, sure, not impossible. Let us be the generations that reveal Real Love, God's Love to the world. The real thing is so much better than the fake thing the world just came up with and constantly changes.

Love requires Truth. Not just words perfectly articulated to please someone's itching ears or appeal to their hearts desires. Let us be thankful for the Love and Truth that God is and constantly shows. And in our thankfulness, let us show the world TRUE love. Christ's love. God's love. Let us be just, honest, truthful, fair, merciful, gracious, patient, righteously angry, let us love. It will make people lift an eyebrow, ridicule, scorn, and hate, but that does not make His love any less. Christ was mocked, scorned, hated, and killed because He was and is and spoke nothing but Truth. The hatred towards Him, didn't make His love less, it amplified it.