The Greatest Thing in the World!
Tuesday morning at 7:10AM I stepped into the halls of Sandalwood High School. There were more bears, hearts, balloons, flowers and pink clothing than you could imagine. It was funny to see some girls carrying Teddy Bears bigger than themselves. Immediately, the first thought that entered my mind: "Man, this is a competition! I bet you all the guys that got their girlfriends a normal sized bear despise the show off who gave his girlfriend King Kong!" I could see the guys now: "What kind of stunt is Freddy trying to pull?" and the girls: "Wow! Look at Fredna's bear! It's bigger than her! Can you believe Freddy got that for her? She's lucky!"
I walked from this barrage of pink and air of love to UNF where I saw only one guy with a bear and flowers (by the way, what's up with bear fever this year? Why not lions? They're way cooler). It goes to show girls, all these guys loading you up with sweets, bears, flowers, balloons and fancy, gaudy toys in high school is all a facade. They're using their parents' money. In a year or two you'll discover the true authenticity of their love for you when they have to decide between their bowl of Ramen Noodles and treating you. Very few withstand the fire of this test. I was smart, I dated at the end of college when I actually had some money.
It's funny in high school how we all think we've finally arrived and have love figured out: "I'm in love with him! I know that I'm going to marry him!" "Really? Wow! How long have you known him? Oh, we haven't met yet. But I've been listening to his music for quite some time!" "Oh really, what's his name?" "Justin, he's so cute!" "Wait your not talking about Justin Beiber are you?" "How'd you know!?" Or "Ryan, I really think this girl is amazing! I'm even thinking that she might be the one! I'm ready to start dating her. I've been praying about it and God hasn't said no yet." "Okay, um do you have a car?" "Uh no." "Do you have a job?" "No but I'm going to start mowing lawns for my my grandma this summer." "So, you have no job, you don't even have your driver's permit, and you think you're ready?" "But I'm in love and she loves me!" Ladies, note to self, if a guy has no job, no car and still sleeps with teddy bears he doesn't love you! He's still a baby and wants to feed his selfish desires!
This past summer I was at a conference where Sinbad was asking the audience about difficulties in raising kids. One of these couples were genuinely concerned about their 17 year old son getting involved in a relationship over Facebook. I was listening to Sinbad address this issue and it went something like this: "My son is involved in an emotional romance over this girl on Facebook that he's never even met before." Sinbad responds, "Ok, what's your concern?" "Well, he's planning on driving to Dallas next month to meet her and we don't know if he'll run off and live with her and get married without our consent." "Oh, oh! Don't you worry about a thing." Sinbad calmly responded, "That ain't no 18 year old girl. It's a 60 year old man... He'll be back."
So many people think they have love figured out, but what does the Bible say about love?
I Corinthians 13 says that love is the greatest thing in the world: "And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or clanging cymbal . If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love I gain nothing... Now these remain: faith hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
You can have all the faith, boldness, leadership, knowledge and power in the world, but if you don't have love, you have nothing! Love is more than pink balloons and bears The true meaning of love has been tainted by the world. Love is the greatest thing in the world!
I 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 or our brothers."
And then in chapter 4, "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." God shows us what love is through the SACRIFICE of his Son.
To understand love, you must understand sacrifice. What does this mean?
II Corinthians 5:21 says, "God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God." What is this saying? First, think about the consequences of sin. For example, if you never blew up in anger, you'd never feel the regret and hurt afterwards. If you never lusted, you'd never feel the gaping whole in your heart and the horrible guilt. If you never talked negative, you'd never experience the downward cycle of pessimism and the affects of being negative where your whole world and vision become dark and cold. So go back to Jesus, who had no sin. He never experienced the consequences of sin because he was perfect. But when he died for us in his love he took on all these consequences, hurt and pain. He suffered for no wrong doing. Imagine the pain he felt when he took on the consequence of murder and adultery! God's love is amazing! Now you get a glimpse of God's love."
Love is not understood until there is a sacrifice.
What do I mean by this? When you make a sacrifice out of love for someone you will begin to see and understand how fascinating God's love is. Many high schoolers think they have this one figured out because they've watched movies like Twighlight: "I've made a sacrifice for my girlfriend. I'd lay down my life for her!!!" Or Titanic, "Near, far, wherever you are!" These are selfish, lustful desires clothed in a facade of sacrifice.
True sacrifice is not pleasurable, but rather painful. In the moment it really hurts because it's a sacrifice, but in the end it brings more delight and satisfaction than you can dream of. For example, if the enemy tempts a man with lust, he has a choice. He can give into looking and lusting and getting "pleasure" for a second or sacrifice this fleshly desire by not looking. If he looks he has a quick moment of pleasure, but he just destroyed his ability to love his wife, which is horrible. But If he decides to look forward and not give attention to the temptation, he sacrifices the pleasure, but because of the sacrifice his love for his wife magically increased. He can actually feel a stronger connection with his wife.
Now direct this example to your relationship with God. There are endless amounts of temptations: lust, pornography, secular music, laziness, sleep, my time, TV, sex, snoozing, making out, impure day dreaming about your love, prideful thinking, boasting about yourself... All these things are very appealing to our sinful man, our flesh. They are desirable and pleasurable for a moment just like a donut taste great for 30 seconds. You have a choice, to appease these desires and feast in the pleasure, or make a sacrifice. The sacrifice is always difficult, but also always increases your love for God. Once the sacrifice is made the pleasurable temptation vanishes and you experience one of the most amazing feelings in the world. You experience a joy that is inexplicable- this thing you feel is LOVE! So many of us struggle with sin because we have yet to experience this because we have not yet made the sacrifice.
How does this apply to us practically speaking?
There are many of us who lack a fire and passion for God. There is little to no desire inside of us. We are not excited about Jesus and life. We are not joyful when we read the Bible. Church, the Bible and Christianity are boring to us. Put simply, we have little to no love for God. We'd rather play Call of Duty than read our Bible. We'd rather sleep 15 extra minutes than spend time in prayer and in God's presence. We'd rather sit at home and watch TV than come to youth. We'd rather be comfortable than evangelize to our friends. We'd rather appease our flesh by looking and day dreaming than thinking scripture. BUT THE MAN WHO LOVES GOD finds delight in spending time in prayer. He'd rather lose sleep and be tired than to miss his quiet time. He'd rather face fear and insecurity and share the Gospel with his friends than to sit in comfort and ignore the Holy Spirit's calling. He hates wasting time watching TV when it is taking away from his time with God. He despises lust because it hinders his love for God and his relationship with him. He'd rather sacrifice school and sports to come to church than to be the star athlete. So, my question for you is simple: "Do you love God?"
Paul says in Galatians 5:14 "The law is fulfilled in one word: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" What is Paul saying? Love is the fulfillment of the law. In other words, if you love God, you won't want to have any other gods in your life. If you love your wife, you won't covet your neighbors wife. If you love people, you won't murder. If you love your parents you won't lie to them or talk disrespectfully to them. If you love God , you won't cheat on your homework. If you love your friends you won't create drama and back stab them. If you love God, you will do your quiet time and Bible study. If you love you friends, you'll do everything you can to get them to Jesus - you'll memorize scripture, learn the Gospel, pray for them every day, invite them to church every week, encourage them, be kind...
If you're saying, "I want to love more. How do I?" You first must allow Jesus into your heart. I John 4:8 says, "Whoever does not love does not know God because God is love." Once you have Jesus living inside of you, you can now start walking in love. But this love must be cultivated.
In order for you to understand love and grow in love you must make a sacrifice! The reason you have not felt the love I'm talking about is because you have yet to make a sacrifice. Discipline produces passion. Some of us need to sacrifice our sleep to spend more time reading our Bibles; some TV & Facebook, others need to sacrifice lustful desires and flee temptation. Some need to sacrifice your reputation, coolness and status and step out and be bold. Some need to sacrifice ungodly music or an unhealthy or premature relationship. The moment you make a sacrifice you will feel something more amazing than you've ever felt before. An inexplicable joy will saturate your inner being. A delightful satisfaction will propel you, a new strength will energize you, a light will shine on your path, hope will anchor your soul, warmth will fill you - this my friends is a result of love experienced from the sacrifice! So, how do you love? By making the sacrifice! It won't be easy - it wasn't for Jesus! But just like Jesus, love will get you there!
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