How do you know if you are in love
Sweaty palms, pounding heart rate, heart in your mouth?
Maybe you spend all day thinking about them, planning what you are going to say next time you see them or talk to them, thinking about how lucky you are to have them in your life?
At Christmas you might make an extra effort - extra gifts, a really personal card and setting aside time to spend with that special someone.
One of the things that I was told when I got married was that being in love wasn't as important as loving your wife. That crazy in love feeling can subside as life takes over. The thrill of the initial romance can't last forever. The rollercoaster ride is replaced by a practical car which needs constant refueling. Communication is the key, which includes reading lots of books to understand the other better, and learning about their quirks, likes, dislikes, and spending time together.
For those of you who read this and are not Christian, here is something to think about...
God loves you, plans the gifts, makes time, thinks about you all the time. Not only that, but God will never, ever grow tired of being rejected, avoided or treated like He doesn't even exist.
For those of you who are Christians, here is something to think about...
When was the last time you got sweaty palms or a racing heart just thinking about God?
When was the last time you spent all day thinking about God, talking to God, or writing something special for God?
So maybe you're not in love with God? Maybe you're in a different phase of the relationship. Do you do loving things, even when you are tired, run down, worn out, for God, for others? Are you spending an hour a week with God or is it more? How much is in your tank? How often do you refuel?
Jesus said "love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind soul and strength." He added "Love your neighbour as yourself" with a definition of neighbour so broad as to encompass everyone.
No matter how hard I try to live up to this standard, I never feel like I spend more than 5% of my time getting close to this. It's too hard. I always fall short. This is why I constantly rely on God's grace.
The question is: if you can't achieve perfect love, should you stop trying? Should you accept where you are at with God and make no change? Or is time to suck it up and try knowing that the effort means something to God and will have a positive effect on your relationship with him.
Consider this
1 John 4:7-12
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+4&version=NIV
No matter who you are, God loves you, and you should show love to those are around you.
