The Love Everyone Is Looking For
What is love and where the heck does it come from? As humans we long to be loved. We spend our whole lives searching for a love that will fulfill us, a love that will choose us everyday, a love that is painless and never ending. A love that fills those lonely nights with things other than tears. A love that never leaves. So yes as humans we long to be loved more than anything and where we go wrong is trying to find that type of love in another human. The thing about humans is they will always always always fail. We will always let each other down and hurt each other. The love we have to offer isn't never ending, it isn't perfect, and it doesn't make us whole. We live our lives in search of this love and all along we are searching in the wrong place, and here's the truth, the love everyone is searching for is found at the foot of the cross. The love found there is fulfilling, never ending, never changing, forgiving, peaceful, painless, and it will never leave you. This love will choose you every single day without fail. It pursues you even when you don't pursue it.
With all of this being said, I'm not saying that love from another human shouldnt be desired in life. I am saying that to love and be loved you have to know the source of love, and God is the ultimate source of love. It's hard to understand God's love for us when we feel unloveable. I'm sure most of you have read or heard of John 3:16, it is a very popular verse. But let me ask you, do you truly understand what the verse is saying? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” In my opinion love is way more than just a feeling, it is something you do. The love that God shows in this verse is a sacrificial type of love, and Agape type of love. He sent His literal son to die for us. I'm not a mother but it makes my heart ache to think about sending one of my babies to die for someone else. In 1 John 4:19 it says, “We love because he first loved us.” Because of Jesus we can experience love in its purest form. God's love for us is the perfect example of how to love others. 1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” Let me say that again “we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.” Love each other actively, not just through words, lay down your life daily for those around you. Embody the love of Jesus in the way we love others around us. At the end of the day it's not about feeling loved, it's about loving others enough to tell them about heaven. My dad used to wear this old gray t-shirt that said “friends don't let friends go to hell” and yes that's a goofy t-shirt but there's so much truth in that. We are all just walking eachother home. If you have truly met and experienced the love of Jesus it will change your actions and behavior. The love of Christ transforms you from the inside out. For me love was always something I tried to find in other people. I would find myself getting so upset and feeling unlovable when someone would let me down or not love me the way I felt I needed to be loved and the truth is I was the issue. I was searching for love in the wrong place. I lost so many relationships because I put these unrealistic expectations on humans. I expected a human to never leave me, never hurt me, sacrifice for me, always pursue me even if I didn't pursue them, and ultimately never let me down. Humans don't have the capacity to give that type of love. That type of love comes from God.
When you come to the understanding that God is the one true source of love, you learn to truly understand love itself and what it should look like. John 15:9-11 says, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” Live like you're loved, because when you live like you're loved you walk through life differently and then you will find the love you're looking for at the foot of the cross.
Good talk,
Rylie With The Messy LIfe :)
