IfYouGiveAMindensenABlog

A popular question with a variety of answers. There are also many different forms of love.

This past weekend I was counseling for a Middle School Purity and Holiness retreat. The purpose of the retreat is to educate/equip/prepare Middle-schoolers how and why to make the choice (and future choices) to stay pure and live a life that is holy and pleasing to God. One challenge from the weekend was to ask a person to 'define love' when they tell you "I LOVE YOU!" It made me think about how I would answer. So, I would say that when you love someone, you put them entirely before you; their needs, health, dreams,happiness, etc... However, that can be VERY unhealthy, UNLESS there is someone who loves you that much, and is taking care of your needs. Meaning, in order to really LOVE we need to have an example of real love in our lives to be able to duplicate it. Unfortunately, this world isn't perfect, but we do have a God who is perfect.

Recently God has been trying to teach me about Agape love.

God loves mankind unconditionally, but He is able to do so because of the Trinity. The Trinity is a PERFECT example of love. Each part is constantly placing the priorities of the other two parts above their own. God exists in a perpetual state of perfect loves, hence 1 John 4's "God is LOVE". Therefore, God will ALWAYS be able to love others perfectly because He has a perfect love relationship to duplicate from. Now, as a human, I can be selfish and therefore, unable to love perfectly, thus being unable to be in a perfect relationship. However, my relationship with God, because of God's perfection, gives me the closest chance at having one. God's part will always be perfect and so it is simply a matter of strengthening my end of it (through HIS help of course). That way, as I grow more and more in love with God, I'll have an increasingly better example of love to duplicate towards others, despite the fact that both me and the other person are imperfect.

God calls us to 'love one another' (1John4:7&8), but we are only able to love 'because HE first loved us' (1John4:19)

God is GOOD!