“Choosing To Love!” 1 John 2:7-11 Key verse(s): 9-10:“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble.”
We live in a choice culture. In fact, we live in a culture where choice has nearly become the only choice. We choose to buy a cell phone and then we are asked to make a choice as to what color we might want that in. We choose to own a home and then we are suddenly confronted with a myriad of mortgage financing plans through an ever-increasing number of mortgage loan agencies. We are surrounded by unlimited and nearly impossible to manage choices every day. It has gotten to the point where, with so many choices, someone like myself who has a history of being content with the bag of M&M’s that were all chocolate colored, sometimes has a difficult time opting one way or the other. The luxury of owning a Model-T in a choice of colors--black, is no longer an option in our society. We have pushed the envelope of choice so far that today many are including the prerogative to choose life over death, as each day thousands of little babies are sacrificed on the altar of choice, as one of their most sacred rights of choice. Frankly, choice has become not only a national obsession, it has become for many a new religion.
Ironically, amid all this “clatter” of choosing, there is one thing that many who embrace choice so ardently have a difficult time including on their discretionary lists. It is the choice of love. In a society so wrapped up in the “rights” to choose this or that, it is nearly a Cardinal sin to introduce the notion that love is a choice. “Why, love just happens! You can’t choose it or seek it. No, you have to let it find you.” We live in a society that falls into
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