The World that We Live In- A Prayer

Love is a great thing.

That may be the understatement of the century for some of you. That may be the cheesiest, most ridiculous lie you’ve ever heard, too. But I think that when God was creating us, He instilled a wonderful, magnificent capacity inside our hearts, and then created everything else to work with it. It’s not like He created humans and then added a little love potion, and we were complete. No, I think that he created us for love. He gave each and every person love in their hearts, and then He created our bodies. Our minds. Our spirits. Our souls.

It all started, though, with the amazing love that He has for us. You can’t honestly tell me that love comes from anything but God, and that we come from anything other than His love for us. It’s just a fact. We were made out of His love for loving.

That’s why it feels so good to love someone—to buy someone lunch, or congratulate your friend. To pick someone up after they’ve been knocked down. To hug someone. To cheer someone up. When we’re loving people, it feels good. It feels right. Like it’s what we’ve been created to do. And on the other hand, when we’re being hurtful to people, it makes us feel like crap… we’re reminded by the Holy Spirit that there’s something better for us. There’s something else He wants us to do—LOVE.

 So, today I thought I’d address a common misconception between the two types of “love” that exist in our world today. The imitation of love and the real kind.

First we have what the WORLD believes love is. It’s the kind of love that is happy all the time (or appears to be, anyway.) It’s the kind of love that you buy someone chocolates for on Valentine’s Day, or the first boyfriend kind of love. It’s the kind that you see in movies, where two people “love” each other, so sleeping with one another is accepted. It’s the romantic, cheesy, singing-love-songs-outside-her-window-in-the-rain kind of love. It’s the love that has no rules—girls can love other girls, boys can love other boys—they can all love each other because “love has no boundaries.”

But, movies wouldn’t be interesting without a conflict, right? And what usually happens when the characters “fall in love?” That’s right, it usually falls apart. Love that isn’t true, love that isn’t pure, love that isn’t sincere, love that isn’t from the right Source… it will eventually fall apart. Because sooner or later, that lovey-dovey emotional roller-coaster begins to crawl to a screeching stop. Love that isn’t rooted in something that can sustain it will eventually die. It’s biology, people! Tomatoes need roots like love needs roots. Tomatoes need soil like love needs a place to dwell. And finally, tomatoes need a good farmer like love needs its Creator.

I was talking with a good friend of mine yesterday about a relationship. I’m struggling to follow God’s plan because emotions quickly overpower common sense, (as they easily can.) I needed him to assure me of God’s will for my life—I needed him to tell me that He has a brilliant plan for me, and if I pray for it, He will give me guidance.

I want so desperately to stay on the path God has planned for me. I know that when I begin to go off on my own little excursions, I trip and fall down a rocky slope. I’ve learned the hard way that my plan is NOT as good as His. I want to follow Him, it just gets confusing sometimes. I get so caught up in my own affairs that His plan begins to be cloudy. His path gets harder for me to follow because I’m tempted to go run after butterflies in the other direction.

 The point is, I was confused. So, I told him that I was struggling, and that I was praying about my relationship. I told him that if God means for it to happen, it will, and that I need to be praying for His guidance along the way.

He told me something in response that prompted me to write this blog post. He told me to “leave God out of it for now” and “do what makes me happy.”

To be fair, I know that He wasn’t suggesting for me to become an atheist and go sleep with a bunch of guys. I know that he has good intentions, which is why I wanted to talk with him. He knew I was struggling, and wanted to remind me to be happy. But I think that people have the wrong interpretation of what life is supposed to be! Believe it or not, life ISN’T about experimenting to find out what “makes you happy.” It’s not about living wild and crazy when you’re young so you can learn when you’re old. If that were true, then parents would encourage their children to run in the streets and take candy from creepy men in white vans. That is dangerous! Your life can be put in danger. Parents try and keep their kids from being killed, it turns out. They tell them not to do things.

Since God is our father, I think He has a similar desire for His children—to be safe and to live in His perfection. He doesn’t want us to have to “live and learn,” because He has laid out all His commandments in His word. If God wanted us to steal and lie and covet, why would He specifically tell us not to in the Bible? Yes, we make mistakes. Yes, we learn from them. But we have to understand that God isn’t wanting us to make wrong decisions, we just do it on our own. God wants us to live for Him. When you become a believer, I think, you become a follower of Jesus. You change your perspective from “I’m doing what makes me happy” to “I’m following God’s plan for me—and I know this will make me truly happy in the end.”

When it comes to love, I think that God has great plans for us all. He created all things good, including love, so He must want us to encounter it. The difference is, He wants us to have the true, patient, pure, holy, perfect, eternal love instead of that cheap kind you can watch in movies. God wants us to look to Him, because His plan for us is good. Just like parents want the best for their children, God wants the very best kind of love for us.

I am never going to “take God out of it.” You can’t have a successful team without a coach. You can’t have American Idol without Simon Cowell. You can’t have anything without its creator. If God created love—the good kind—then it would only make sense to center your love around Him. Not around flowers, or chocolate, or love songs, or sex, but around the One who created love in the first place.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.  Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.

Romans 12:9-10 NIV

This verse turns the world “right-side up” as my pastor would say. It takes the selfish love of the world and brings the focus on the sacrificial, true love—the love only found in Jesus Christ.

I would like to formally encourage you to do the same.

Peace out.