the way we love

We have such a funny load of ideas about what love is. We fall in love. We love chocolate and coffee. We love cool weather and juicy black pens and good books and music and playing with fire. And those are just the things I personally love. Some people love shopping and liver and playing golf and pretty much everything else under the sun. The list ranges all over the place. When I think about it, though, I realize that there's something that all this stuff has in common.

Everything in that paragraph up there makes us feel good. When we have those things, we have warm fuzzies inside us and life seems pretty okay. So we say we love them.

Guess what? That's not love. We don't love that stuff. If we think we do when we're really thinking...well, it's just because we don't have any of the real thing, the real love, to compare it to. How about this?

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. -John

Now THAT'S love. That's our ultimate. Our love of tacos just doesn't even approach that. And how about when we try to love?

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments." -Jesus

So love for God is expressed through our obedience to God? Even that's complicated today. What is obedience? Doing what someone tells you to do? Nate Saint, a Christian martyr, knew the answer to that question.

"Obedience is not a momentary option; it is a die cast decision made beforehand." -Nate Saint

So. Obedience. Love. They're connected. And they aren't at all based on the whim of the moment. They are pre-established and rooted in eternity. Let's be people who love. All the time. And show it through our dedication to obedience. Because that's true love.