I'm preparing to do a lesson on love for my year 6/7/8 group otherwise known as SUP (six up) and I think it's going to rock their world, just quietly. Well I'm going to have fun turning their preconceived ideas on love completely upside down. I'm pretty sure that as soon as I mention the word love, the boys are going to squirm in their seats and just generally be sillier than usual. The reason? Love is for girls! It's mushy. Love? Ew!
Once again, the world has completely screwed up one of God's gifts and managed to make love selfish. I say this because it is not common for someone to love their enemy, or for it to even enter their head that they should. Love is reserved for someone who has earned it, only those you care about, as one of my girls at our lunchtime group said today. If love was dependent on how deserving the subject was... Actually I'm struggling to finish that sentence because there'd be no hope for any of us if that was the case. God loves us just because. Yet that love is so deep that he gave up his only son.
This is really blowing my mind. To love, really love, takes enormous strength. The world seems to associate love with weakness and vulnerability. To some extent that may be true, but real love simply means putting others before yourself. It requires no particular 'fuzzy' feeling, you might not even like it. But if we only loved those who loved us, how could the Christian be distinct? About a million bible verses are hitting me right now but I'm just trying to explain it all in my own words. Jesus hung on a cross, totally humiliated and hated. But he let it happen. He willingly layed down his life for his sheep and in all his amazing glory, took it back up again. His death was the ultimate example of love, love as it really is, the model that we should be following and striving for. Not the cop-out presented in chick flicks. Perhaps this is overkill but I do think that the Hollywood perception of love is quite damaging. Not only are the expectations completely unrealistic, but if all you're striving for is looks, wealth and charm you will not end up happy. It's such a pale imitation of what the heart really longs for. Because of course what the heart is really longing for is reconciliation with God. So then, why sell yourself short?
Not overkill at all. Wordly notions of love are pretty pathetic in contrast with the love of God.
ReplyDeletePaul nailed this in Romans 5: "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Here's a bit of food for thought, "Love is Fucking Stupid": http://www.inhabitatiodei.com/2009/04/28/love-is-fucking-stupid/
thanks for sharing. 'It's such a pale imitation of what the heart really longs for.' Amen. I want to quote that someday.
ReplyDeletePeople work so hard in different ways to 'earn' the love of others. Some find one doesn't need to go that far to look for love, for the biggest fan will be found within his/herself. Last line sounds like some vague text book description. urgh. Digression.
God's love shown in Jesus is so liberating... from the complete inability to truly love. What's also amazing is that God uses what used to be hard wired self centred people to visibly show his love to the world.