A Verb part 4
Here's what I want to say tonight: If love is a verb (and it is)... don't be afraid to act in love. And to back this up I want to quote 1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." And I think the biggest torment that we put ourselves through is when we're trying to decide if we should love someone. I think there's a fear that people don't love us, certainly. But if I've learned one thing in my life its that you can't control other people. You can't control how people feel about you. Even if you do all of the "right" things, and try as hard as you can, it might not matter. You can't make people love you. And I've always said, if you're loving someone in order to make them love you... you're not really loving them at all. Because love is never about getting. Because love is giving. And you don't give expecting to get. Remember my personal definition of love? Gladly giving everything you have and everything you are EVEN THOUGH it seems like the more you love the less you are loved. And that part after the "even though" is where I think a lot of the torment comes from. Because we have that mindset of, "If I give what I've got, and don't get anything in return... well then I won't have anything left!" And I can tell you, from experience, that I've felt that way. I've felt like I was pouring myself into a black hole. Just giving and giving and giving and then finding myself empty. But the truth of the matter is that we are connected to the unlimited source of love. The God who IS love. And when I say "connected" I mean, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). And I mean, "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you" (John 14:20). We are connected to love because we are loved. Because we are LOVE. We don't have to be afraid of losing what we've got. In fact, there's a song lyric that says, "What you got if you ain't got love? The kind that you just want to give away..." That's what love is all about. That's what love IS. Love is giving. Giving yourself. Laying your life down for your friends. Giving all you have and all you are without worrying about--certainly without fearing--what happens next. Guys--love never fails. And that doesn't mean things always turn our the way you think they should. But it does mean that you don't have to be afraid to love people. Don't be afraid to give away what you've got. Because that's how you experience what you've got. Things are better when they are shared. No man is an island. Its not good that man should be alone. But we think we need to guard our hearts by walling them up. Shutting them down. When in truth we guard our hearts by keeping them open. Keeping them open to love. Letting love in, and letting love out. With every breath we take and every move we make. Without fear. So stop tormenting yourself. Nobody can do a better job of running you down than you can. Stop it! Believe what your heavenly Father says about you--that you are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. And let that love equip and empower you to live. Equip and empower you to LOVE. Because living IS loving. And loving is living. You don't have to be afraid to reach out, even if you're hand get slapped away. You can't run out of love. And love will never run out on you!