Love LOVE

I've been thinking a lot about love today.

 

Here's the thing - I want you to love LOVE.  I don't want you to hate LOVE, or think that LOVE STINKS, etc.  

 

I saw a picture today of a young man who has been a complete deadbeat dad to his kids...and now, at a young age, he is dying.  He is STILL a deadbeat.  It makes me angry for my friend when I think of him.

 

BUT...when I saw the picture of him, I saw the man she fell in love with.  The one she pledged her heart to, bore a child with.  It softened my hardness.

 

Don't get me wrong - I have been WRONGED by some ex's, and have suffered some terrible stuff.  BUT...God doesn't want us to stop loving.  In fact , that is the worst thing we can do.

 

*DISCLAIMER! I am NOT advocating that you pursue a romantic relationship - absolutely NOT!  DON'T DO IT!  Unless you are at LEAST three years out from a completed divorce, and you have been in counseling and have made peace with yourself and your situation, don't even THINK about dating!!*

 

That being said, don't give up on love.

 

Love is mentioned 443 times in the King James Bible.  

 

God IS love.  Greater love has no man than this - that he lay down his life for a friend, right?  LOVE is what God is all about.

 

Because we put our hearts out there and got our hearts broken, beaten, and/or abused, do not ever forget this - GOD's plan is LOVE.  God IS love.  

 

Don't let your heart get hardened to ever loving.  First, love God, and seek Him with your whole heart.

 

Then, learn to love yourself - not in the narcissistic, self-centered way, but in appreciating what God made you to do, and to be- and being grateful for it.

 

Last, pray for an open heart.  Because that is the heart He can use to help others.  

 

Let Him bring that wall down around your heart, brick by brick.

 

Love is worth it.

 

Here are some verses about love for you:

God’s Love Shown Through Jesus Christ

John 3:16  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. who loved me and gave himself for me.

Ephesians 2:4-5 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, evenwhen we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—

1 John 4:9-11 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

God Loves and Cares For Us 

Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

1 John 4:7-8  Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

1 Peter 5:6-7  Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,  casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

Job 34:19 who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor,  for they are all the work of his hands?

Psalm 86:15 But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

1 John 3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

What God Says About Love

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,

Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

John 13:34-35  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”