This week many people’s thoughts turn toward love and the one they love. The Bible says the “greatest is love.” Love is what makes life worth while. So I have a few thoughts about love today:
1. Remember it is better to love than to be loved. You can only be fulfilled by loving, not by being loved. If your happiness is built on loving, then it can be controlled. But if your happiness is built on being loved, it is built on something over which you have no control. The happiest people and the people whose happiness is most secure are those who find their joy in loving rather than in being loved.
2. Love is often unrecognized and unreturned. It is entirely possible that the people who love the least will receive credit for loving the most and that the world’s greatest lovers will have their love unrecognized by the world. Remember, love is of God and this world knows very little about God and His love. Because of this the more true love that you have, the less recognition you may get for it.
3. Love gives the object its needs, not its wants. The love the world recognizes is that which fulfills only the wants of its object. The love which God gives is that which oftentimes forfeits its own recognition in an effort to help. The parent who loves his children enough to discipline them may be called an unloving parent. The pastor who loves his people enough to warn them may be called an unloving pastor.
4. Love is often heartbroken. Remember that the higher one goes the lonelier he gets, and the more one loves the more he will feel unloved. He then compares his love for others with that which others have for them. The consequence is often heartbreak. This must have been a little of what our Lord Jesus Christ felt when He loved to the end, but He knew that He was not loved in return.
5. Do not let anything stop your love. We don’t love because of the object of our love. We cannot make them love us, but they cannot keep us from loving them. If you love only because the person is lovable, your love cannot increase unless the person becomes more lovable. However, if you love because of the love that Christ has placed in your heart, your love can increase to unbelievable portions.
6. Do not work on being loved. Seeking to be loved makes love impossible, for such actions are selfish, and love cannot be selfish. Selfishness cannot love. Most of today’s love is selfish and possessive. It is nothing more than a desire to be with someone who satisfies one of the senses.
7. Express your love. It is a wonderful thing to be able to express your love. This would simply mean being affectionate. Do you love someone? Tell them. Have they been a blessing to you? Let them know it. There is far too little tenderness and affection exchanged between family and friends today. Words of love and affection are always in order if they are set within proper bounds. Notes and emails between friends we love should be shared. This is a vital part of friendship and love.
When people get married they show their commitment to each other by giving rings. When Jesus wanted His people to show their commitment to Him, He didn’t ask for a ring. He simply chose that we should love one another. He said, “By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13:35). Let us show Jesus we love Him by loving each other.