Choosing to Love

L-O-V-E.

What does this four letter word mean to you?

Love is a universal language that transcends time. I like to view love as the heartbeat of life. Love flows through cultures and creates a steady rhythm that drives the steps of humanity.

Love is a gift. Love is a powerful word and scripture tells us that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends... (1 Corinthians 13:7-8).

So, why isn't love cherished? If this good and perfect gift is so powerful, why are people hurt and manipulated all in the name of "love"?

I believe love isn't cherished because our society has removed God from any association with the word. Society poses a question to us, what is true love? Then attempts to feed us the answer with lies for personal gain through ads, television shows, music and movies.

Love is a certain size. Love is a certain number of likes. Love is a certain person. Love is a certain item. Love is certain look. Love is a certain attraction. The lies about the true essence of love are endless and these lies are spun by the enemy. They have fractured lives and driven a wedge between cultures and individuals.

Scripture tells us that anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8) Let me repeat that. GOD IS LOVE.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

I believe when we try to answer the million dollar question of what true love is without relating the definition to Jesus, then we start to be consumed with the lies.

We are living in very divided times, and the question that I'm grappling with is how can I be intentional about choosing to love instead of choosing to hate?

For me, I believe the answer is rooted in service. Love is a vehicle for serving, not for self-aggrandizement. And to be honest, I struggle. This is easier said than done.

I am NOT perfect. I can be selfish and fall into the trap of not loving others like myself.

But I am grateful that when I need a reminder of how to love others like the Lord intended for me to I can rely on him and refer to 1 Corinthians 13:4.

"Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on it own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with truth." 1 Corinthians 13:4.

I am intentionally choosing to not only show love through kind words and community service, but to protect love.

You may be asking yourself, how can one protect love? Grammatically speaking, love is an abstract noun, but I like to think in images. The first image that comes to mind when I think about protecting something is a shield. In order to protect my view of love, I have to lift my shield of faith and guard my perspective on love from being pierced by the fiery arrows of lies.

In my life, this has inspired me to be more intentional about spending time with the Lord, reading my Bible and to be more cognizant of the content I allow myself to read and watch about love.

This may not always be an easy task, but I know it will be worth it.

I invite you to come along this journey with me to cherish the true essence of love.

Yours truly,

J. Jones