His Kind of Love

Have you ever taken a personality test? There's one with four different colors: red, blue, white, and yellow. Most are made up of a combination of these, but I am completely blue. Blue means intimacy -- I like people and relationships and love. However, I was warned when I took this that grumpy old men and women are usually "blue" because they loved so much but that love was not returned.

Scene change.

Last night I watched "Fireproof" again and the main character, Caleb, was complaining to his father that he couldn't love his wife when he was being rejected over and over again. His father gently listened to him as he slowly walked to the cross.

I'll be honest, the man that warned me about becoming a grumpy old woman had some truth in his speech. It's really easy for me to pour myself out to people and then shut down and cry myself to sleep when that love is not returned. But what about God?

There's something different in the way that I love than the way that God loves: His love is unconditional. In my flesh, my love is based on the conditions that I find myself in, and when they don't please me, I pull my love away. That's not how God works though. In fact, "God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) We have nothing to bring God that would make Him love us -- we're even compared to dirty underwear in the Bible (Isaiah 64:6) -- and we constantly reject Him when we don't love Him above all else. And we can't. No matter how hard you try, you can't. That's where God's love, His unconditional love, showers over us and we can rest in that.

If you read Karyn's post on Sunday, she posted a short read entitled "The Greatest Thing in the World". If you didn't read it then, please read it this week. The author challenged the readers to read 1 Corinthians 13 every day for a week to look at what love truly means. Love, not the fluffy, romantic stuff we see in movies, but love that is patient, kind, generous, humble, unselfish, good tempered, and sincere. As Valentine's Day is exactly one week from now, most people have "love" on the mind. Will you join me in this challenge? 

My love fails, but God says that true love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:8). I want a love like His. A love for Him, for my brothers and sisters in Christ, and the lost. A love that is unconditional. He is the source of that love.

"We love because He first loved us" --1 John 4:19