# LOVE IS A PRIORITY, NOT AN ACCESSORY
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 1 If I speak (our words) in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers (when you operate in what God has given you), and understand all mysteries and all knowledge (our thoughts, mind), and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing (our faith). 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned (and all the things we do), but have not love, I gain nothing. (all are not enough without love)
If love is not enough, what made us think that relationship would work without love?
This is the supremacy of love in our life. Love is so essential that you never want to take love out of the equation in everything. Live a life with love as a priority.
The life of the original couple, Adam and Eve, was certainly not easy when they were thrown out of the garden of Eden. Imagine what could have possibly ran in their mind while walking away from the garden. Did they blame each other? Perhaps! But in the end, we can conclude that they remained committed to their vows and choose to love one another because they were eventually immensely blessed with long life and many children.
Love not only when it is convenient. The key is to ensure the constant presence of love.
The man who cycled from India to Europe for love
Indian artist PK Mahanandia met Charlotte Von Schedvin on a winter evening in Delhi in 1975 when she asked him to draw her portrait.
The 2 fell in love. Charlotte had to return to Sweden and made PK promise to follow her.
After more than a year, PK sold everything he owned, bought a bicycle, and followed her.
He cycled 70km every day and reached Europe after about 4 months.
Visualize a 400-meter track oval. Every single day cycle around for 175 times. In 4 months. I wonder if PK brought loads of pain killers ?
They were officially married in Sweden and had 2 children.
If love is not their priority, their love story would have turned out differently.
Colossians 3:14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Love is not about the feelings; it is the choice that we make.
Don’t make it as an option, make it your constant choice.
# LOVE IS DONE, NOT (MERELY) SPOKEN
Genesis 29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her.
Jacob was tricked by his father-in-law (Laban), and worked for 14 years before he could be with his true love Rachel.
Imagine how long Jacob had to wait. How long is long to you? If you can't wait, you can't love. If in restaurant you are willing to wait, how much more in the matter of the heart.
Jacob can just walk away and find someone else. Likewise, for Rachel. But they choose to stay on track despite of the very long waiting.
Jacob and Rachel shown how a relationship can still work when the situation is not the most ideal or fair. And that is to choose to remain in love.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [b] 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
If your marriage is on the rocks, find your way back into love.
Remember the love that you shared.
Do the things that you love doing together.
resolve conflicts, take action, help each other to fall in love again
Words define love, actions confirm it!
I am not saying that you don’t verbalize our love for each other. I used to write love letters for my wife when we were young. But without putting love in action first, your words will not be enough. “in this case, action precedes love”
In a traditional wedding vow that goes “do you take this man to be your wedded husband to live together in marriage, to love him, comfort him, honour and keep him for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health... ” The answer is “I do” because love is a choice to be acted upon.
John 21:15-17 ESV 15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 16 He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
Jesus taught Peter the way to love
explicit message is “discipleship”
Implicit message is that - Love is done, not spoken. Feed and tend are words that require action.
love your spouse, by showing patience and kindness.
Love your parents and siblings, do not be arrogant or rude to them.
Love your neighbours, do something that will make them feel loved.
Love Jesus, reconcile your words and your action.
# TO MEET JESUS, IS TO ENCOUNTER REAL LOVE
1 John 4:16 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Love is not a “what”, love is a “who” because God is love. Love is his attribute, and he himself is love.
1 Corinthians 13 13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
One way to look at or read this verse is this; faith and hope are both concerning our relationship towards God. From us towards God. Love is the reverse; it starts with God. And so, if God is love, our faith, and hope, may fade, but God’s love will forever stand.
If you are losing hope and your faith is fading, feed on God's love through Jesus. His love is eternal.
Hosea had a happy home with three children. One day, when Hosea came home, his wife Gomer gone missing including their possessions. She had gone back to other lovers and return to being a prostitute.
Imagine the devastation and humiliation he suffered. Hosea possibly could not sleep. He was not only grieving for himself but also for his children.
Hosea 3:1 1And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” (may refer to some cult ceremony)
Hosea and Gomer’s love story is beyond strange.
Hosea fell in love, got hurt, and found his way back into love again
Hosea’s reconciliation to Gomer, not only teaches true love (patience, kindness, bearing all things); but it shows us God’s broken heart for us his people specially if we turn our back to his love.
Hosea’s children have strange name translation that are “Judgment,” “No more Mercy,” and “Not My People.” Each name was prophetic of Israel. Each name speaks about the nation of Israel’s situation away from God. The Ancient Israel became corrupt and turn to wicked things. In God’s loving nature, God reaches out to Israel, just as Hosea to Gomer.
In the same way, God desires to restore us, even the chaotic situation around us.
God is willing to forgive, to restore, and to love us back again and again whatever we have become.
Romans 5:8 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God sent Jesus
as a purchase
to die for the sins of this world including ours.
So that we can participate in the love that God the father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit share.
Wow! Isn’t it so amazing and comforting to know, that regardless of our status and situation in life, we are part of God’s love story. Single, Married, Broken-hearted, we can all be part of God’s love story.
We have Jesus, our only way back into love, our way back to God.
He is, after all, the perfect example of how to love because He is love.
