Love...

     I am supposed to be working on a paper. But right now thoughts are whirling in my brain about a subject that the world thinks it knows all about: Love. I've been reading C.S. Lewis' "The Four Loves", John Piper "Desiring God", I've been studying John (what my paper is supposed to be about) "the disciple whom Jesus loved" plus attending an Eric and Leslie Ludy event, with banquet two weeks away, and I just cant seem to get it off my mind.
     There are different kinds of love, different words for it, even different ways of expressing it. The love the world knows though, could hardly be described as love. I was standing in the check-out line at Wally World (Wal-Mart) and magazines scream at me from every side about the "love" this or that person has or suddenly hasn't. Two weeks of engagement and one fight ruins everything, is this love? I think not! As C.S. Lewis says "Love, having become a god, becomes a demon."(C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960, 82) (Ahhh! Turabian haunts me!) Not to be to quick to judge though, how often does my love for God fluctuate far more quickly than that!? In fact, human love in and of itself is never adequate alone.
     Its a funny thing. I would have chosen Peter, as the one to call "the disciple whom Jesus loved." As I read the Gospels for Life of Christ, I see Peter loudly proclaiming his love for Christ, promising to die for Him, and even drawing his sword to defend Jesus, but then he denies Jesus when it comes down to the wire. John on the other hand is just always there, and instead of the focus being on his love for Christ, the focus is all on Christ's love for him. Maybe John had it right. Its hard to tell since we don't know a ton about John, and I don't like to make an argument from silence, but wasn't John the one who wrote "We love because He first loved us.."(1 John 4:19)
     John tells us that love is sacrifice. God loved us, and sent His son as the ultimate expression of that love. Now I realize there are many different kinds of love: the love of parents, a friend, a spouse, but all the loves in the world require the unselfishness of some sort of sacrifice. Parents sacrifice time, money, and all sorts of things for their children, but they don't mind because its part of how they show their deep love for their children. "A friend loves at all times" Proverbs 17:17 tells us, that requires sacrifice, adjustment and lots of time. And the most beautiful love, that of a mate, created for the very purpose of reflecting Christ's love, is built around sacrifice. With love comes sacrifice, there are no two ways about it.
     As humans we tend to want to avoid pain, or uncomfortable things, especially if we have to give something up.  In fact sacrifice is that last thing we want to do. Ever. We don't want to sacrifice the big things, and we don't think of the little things. In really simple everyday things love means sacrifice. For example, (all you girls) loving your brothers means sacrificing wearing something you think is really cute, so they can be pure men of God. Loving your family may mean choosing to give up some activity, to call them or spend time with them. And here is a really simple little one, loving everyone might mean smiling, biting your tongue, and blessing someone when you are feeling bad and would rather just walk on by. Really little things, I know, but fill in whatever God is convicting you about. Love is a choice, to do something, or to give up something, no matter what relationship we're talking about. Choose love.
     I may have just freaked you out a bit, I mean talking about love usually makes people smile and say pretty things. But when I think of love, I think of a man so torn He is barely recognizable, hanging on rough boards, with spikes in His hands and feet, bleeding love for the world. And because He loved me like that, I love Him, and everyone whom He loves, I love.