Repost: Love

Or originally posted 2/21/2006.

If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

1 Corinthians 13:3

What is real love? Many people think it has something to do with reward. They ask, “What do I get from this relationship.... Why am I putting so much effort into it? What is the return?” That is how the world sees love. But it isn’t the love that Paul spoke of in the bible.

But it is possible, now I know, to love something-- someone even-- in a selfless way. You can love them for what they are going to give forward to the world. You can invest time and effort into your relationship because of the promise of a different kind of return. Some day, some where you will see a big list of things that your investment reaped and you can smile and say, “WOW, I helped put that light into the world....” and that is what it is all about.

Other people don't get that. In fact, they hate it. They attack real love and try to stamp it out, twist it, destroy it, mock it or snuff it from the world. They want love to be about selfish reward; be it sex or monetary or greed or possession or obsession. But that isn't love. That is control.

There is love without control, free and perfect love. Love that exists while opening the cage and letting the bird fly free. Love that my grandfather showed me in his basement. Love for a people you are ready to die for. Jesus loved me. I have found things that I truly love. I am ready to suffer for that which I love.

Lord, be with me as I carry this cross. AMEN