Love is a Choice

Love is a choice. Imagine yourself in a world unable to hate; although seemingly utopian at first, you begin to realize there would not be any choice in the matter…and choice is key to genuine love.

choice

noun
“an act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities: the choice between good and evil. It’s your choice | freedom of choice: selection, election, choosing, picking; decision, say, vote.”

You do not have to love, you cannot be forced to love; it is a decision or rather position of the heart. “Choice” is the very boundary marker of love. In reality this is illustrated for us when we see or experience “one sided love.” This is where one has chosen to give and its recipient chooses to neither receive or reciprocate with love. “Choice” is a limitation of Love.

So why take the chance on loving someone? Why take the risk?

In “Love is a Paradox” we determined that since love is so precious and highly valuable, the recipient of that love has a higher value attributed to them. We made the statement that, “A heart that has experienced much love can realize it’s eternal worth.” This worth is first discovered because someone choose to love you.

A healthy heart is positioned to give love more.

A loved heart is a giving heart. The more we realized we are loved, the more we love in turn. Jesus said it this way, “Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” (Luke 7:47) Forgiveness is a big facet of genuine love, but one too large to write about now; for the sake of this tangent we can safely say the following:

Where forgiveness abounds love abounds also.

The woman mentioned finds her value, in finding Jesus she finds peace with God (wholeness) and enters into forgiveness. As a result she loves much. In this moment her value is not found within herself, it is not found by externals, her value is solely found in Christ’s forgiving love. This is why we must take chances and choose to love.

The grand problem:
If love is finite, and is eternally valuable, and I can only give what I have received…what am I to do? Love is too costly, too risky, it is far too expensive for me to give.

To be concluded…
PART FOUR: Love is Given

Love is a Paradox

Love is a paradox. Bouncing off of the topic of my last article “Love is Expensive” we made the discovery that love is finite; essentially meaning it is measurable, you can love much or a little or even not love at all. Love has limits and bounds and this makes its nature finite and precious. But as this article title suggests, there is a paradox. This is because love is also eternal.

paradox

noun
“the paradox of war is that you have to kill people in order to stop people from killing each other: contradiction, contradiction in terms, self-contradiction, inconsistency, incongruity; oxymoron; conflict, anomaly; enigma, puzzle, mystery, conundrum.”

Finite and eternal are two very conflicting words and yet both are true to the nature of love. Let’s continue the deconstruct of the nature of love with this idea in mind: “If I acknowledge that love is precious, valuable, and costs a great price, I can more highly appreciate and value the love shown me.”

So lets dive into the other side of this paradox.

Love is eternal. It crosses the dimension of earth and heaven. Paul said it this way “Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.” (1 Corinthians 13:8) This makes love one of the most valuable things on earth. Now, I like and value knowledge very much, but knowledge doesn’t make the cut when it comes to eternity. In fact, just a few sentences prior to “Love never ends” Paul says this: “if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” (1 Corinthians 13:2)

Love never ends, and I’ve gained nothing without it.

This makes love the highest form of exchange. I liken it to a cross-national currency. It’s value is not only in this present nation (earth) but its also valued in the nation to come (eternity). It’s value does not depreciate. Love is so highly valued that the writer of the Song of Solomon states that, “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.” (Song of Solomon 8:7)

It is a fools errand to think that I can buy love.

These observations define for us the true value of love; love is finite, making it precious; and love is eternal, making it very valuable. In light of these things, this places an even higher value upon love’s recipient. A heart that has experienced much love can realize it’s eternal worth.

So why haven’t I discovered “my eternal worth”?

to be continued…
PART THREE: Love is a Choice

Love is Expensive

Love is expensive, and before continuing I will preface this statement with an idea: “If I acknowledge that love is precious, valuable, and costs a great price, I can more highly appreciate and value the love shown me.”

expensive

adjective
“an expensive meal: costly, high-priced, dear; overpriced, exorbitant, extortionate;
informal steep, pricey, spendy, costing an arm and a leg, big-ticket, costing the earth.”
ANTONYMS cheap, economical.

Like anything precious on this earth, love when expressed is in its nature finite, having limitations and bounds. It can be measured (Luke 7:47). It would seem that once love is given, it is no longer your own but is given to it’s recipient. Limitations are part of what makes love precious, and what makes anything on this earth truly valuable.

So how do we have love in the first place?

I have observed that we only have as much love as we have received on this earth. From the moment you were born, you came into this world with nothing. You received everything you currently have, you received your language, as was your education, your wealth, or anything else…including love. The love that was given you is now yours to steward and grow; to give away or to keep for yourself. We are not humanly capable to self generate love; either you have allot or you have little…

or even none at all.

Paul said it this way,
“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 msg)

This often presents quite an internal argument for most of us. This observation feels unfair. When confronted with this notion it creates a problem…an issue of have or have-nots.
But what if it is true?

How does the loveless give or gain love?

to be continued…
PART TWO: Love is a Paradox

 

To forget

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 3:12-14

Paul a mature believer and personal “hero of the faith”, finds himself as not perfect; However, by faith he is able to take part in the love of God because of the work of Christ. He says he does one thing: to forget. To forget that which was achieved in vein, to forget the value that sin once held. Instead he pushes forward…building his trust in Christ, and beginning to know who he is.

My thoughts led me this morning to Paul’s call, to check our faith and find it to be true. My faith is not to be found within my own strength or my achievements of the past. My faith calls me to forget those sinful things and all their false worth. My faith calls me to rely, to ask for, to realize the need for the strength found in the Spirit of God. This day I know God as a helper, a counsellor and strength giver.

Thank you Lord, for I can rely on you…your gentle voice leading me towards nights of peace. Help me to forget that which was lost and vein…help me to continually look for your strength.
Amen

The grace of being

Scripture)
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vein.
-1 Corinthians 15:9-10

Observation)
Paul having committed great offenses towards God, still accesses the gift of grace that we all do as sons and daughters of royalty through Christ. Found unworthy and the least likely to even enter into the Kingdom, we see that Christ turns the table to bring His agenda of healing and grace to a twisted heart. In this Paul is able to stand on what he knows is true, and further more knowing the truth of God enabling him to make the profound statement: “I am what I am.”

Application)
I need to hold tightly to who I was created to be, not only holding on to my creation but my renewed person, fully accessing the grace given to me. If I do indeed step into the reality of grace, I like Paul make a statement of validity: “his grace toward me was not in vein.” I am what I am through the grace of God and there will be no change nor compromise to set me against this stance…though it is a choice I must make daily.

Prayer)
Lord, help me see what you see and help me to live in a reality of grace towards others. Give me confidence to know that I am what I am because of who you are.
Amen

Lord, Rock, Redeemer

Scripture)
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
-Psalms 19:14

Prayer)
I ask that my words be found pure before you God, that out of my inmost being you would cause there to be your goodness and righteousness; that it would spill fourth as an overflow in my speech. Let my heart also meditate on you day and night, that my being be before you always. May your servant be found acceptable before you. My Lord: You alone are wisdom. My Rock: You alone are steadfast. My Redeemer: You alone hold my value.
Amen