One
childhood tradition which always seemed to bring equal doses of anticipation
and disappointment was the classroom ritual of exchanging Valentines with
(usually) everyone in the room. You
remember the routine. On the night
before your class Valentines party, you convinced one of your parents to buy
one of those bags of 30+ valentine greetings with clever come-ons like “Bee
mine,” “You’re Purrrrrrrfect,” and “You mermaid
for me.” Then you stayed up late addressing all the envelopes and signing your
name to each card. The real clincher,
though, happened on the day of the party…waiting to see the reaction from the
one particular girl (guy) you fancied as they read your card.
Most of us
knew, even then, that this activity was not all that consequential in matters
of love and the opposite sex. Still, the
ritual continues to this day, and hearts, at least for the very young, are
a-flutter or a-broken as this simple exercise plays out. I did, in fact, come across some interesting
observations kids had on the subject of love, as seen through their innocent
eyes. Here’s a sampling:
- When my grandmother
got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore.
So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got
arthritis too. That's love.
- Love is when a girl puts
on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and
smell each other.
- Love is what makes you smile
when you're tired.
- If you want
to learn to love better, you should start with a
friend who you don't like to play with.
- Love is hugging. Love is
kissing. Love is saying no sometimes.
- When you tell someone
something bad about yourself and you're scared they won't love you
anymore. But then you get surprised because not only do they still love
you, they love you even more.
- My mommy loves
me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep
at night.
- Love is when your puppy
licks your face even after you left him alone all day.
- You really shouldn't say 'I
love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot.
People forget, and it's good for them to get reminded.
- There are two kinds of love-
Our love & God's love. But God makes both kinds of them. Love is
important to God.
As adults,
we know love is a pretty big deal to God. John, who described himself as “the
disciple whom Jesus loved,” wrote this about God’s definition: “God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and
only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved
us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. (1 John 4: 9, 10)
These two
verses show us the origin of true
love, but they are not meant to imply that only God can love. When Jesus was
asked, “Teacher, which is the most
important commandment in the law of Moses?,” He replied, ‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your
soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your
neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are
based on these two commandments.” Jesus
later told his followers, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” In other words, there can be no separating of
these two relationships. If we love God,
we will love each other.
Practically, what does that look like in a church
community? To use musical terminology, I believe the world is looking for unity
and harmony in our life together, not unison and conformity. Church cultures which stress the latter don’t require a lot of
love. In fact, in those kinds of
environments, when someone starts “singing” slightly out of tune, or even a
different tune, members often withdraw or, worse, begin the dismantling process
of the fellowship. The agape (unconditional,
godly) love of the first church was tested early on. It had to intentionally set aside the need
for ethnic (cultural) “purity.” They did, after all, start out “all Jewish—all
the time,” remember? (Acts 10). Agape
love also meant stepping out in faith, being willing to be lovingly corrected
by their spiritual leaders, and, at times, even risking death. But the early Church’s true mark on the
world, the distinctive which ultimately turned that world upside down, was not
their great faith, not their gifts, or creativity, not even their
open-mindedness. Rather, it was how they loved each other.
Imagine, if
you will, two piles of bricks standing side by side, one with mortar and the
other without. Now think of the love of God as the mortar connecting the one
stack of stones which He is using to build a beautiful temple of worship. When viewed side by side, the two stacks
neatly piled on top of each other really don’t look all that different. But let the first quake of adversity or
division hit, and one thing becomes clear.
Without that love, without the connective adhesive of the Holy Spirit in
our lives, we will not stand. Our
mission is lost. And God moves on.
As our
American culture pauses to recognize and even celebrate human love this
Valentine’s Day, let’s recommit ourselves to demonstrating to the world a far
deeper, more lasting gift that goes beyond our fleeting feelings. Let our valentine to God and the world be the
living out of what the contemporary
song writer John Mark McMillan describes as God’s “sloppy wet kiss.” (How He
Loves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCe4A7OA_Qw; recorded by Eddie Kirkland). Like any good valentine, the clearer we make
our message, the harder it will be to resist.
tad
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