For Love Sake

Introduction:

Welcome my friend,

Today is Valentine's Day all over the world, making it a love themed day for most, even if others aren't celebrating.

Yet, regardless of where we stand, we can unanimously agree that everyday is a good day to show love to one another; and doing that even more on a designated day wouldn't hurt.

Therefore, on this note, I employ all of us to be intentional about making someone else feel special today; in ways we can, doing it for love's sake.

Last week we discussed friendships and true intimacy and in continuation, we'd be looking at love with regards to how it motivates us to be better individuals.

Discussion:

It's true that the love experience that surrounds today is mostly romantic as lovers use the opportunity to appreciate one another in more ways than one.

Here, words, thoughtful gestures, and gifts readily come to mind.

Expectedly, this bodes well for reassurance or reconciliation; and could even spark up a dying flame, or strengthen weakened bonds.

Yet, this isn't what our conversation is concerned with, as we rather look to understand love beyond romance.

■ What Love Means To Us

Love is a feeling of endearment towards another in a way that we care about them and want the best for them.

Here, for the sake of this feeling, we're able to experience a better relationship, treating them as we would ourselves; even as they do the same.

However, it's not everyone that can give us as much as we do, which is why love doesn't have any expectations of us to reciprocate with what we don't have.

■ How Loving Inspires Us 

To give love is as rewarding as receiving it because love motivates us to behave in ways we wouldn't normally do in the absence of it.

When we love a person genuinely, every other good trait we otherwise struggle to exhibit begins to come easily to us as we interact with them better than we do with others.

This is how love inspires us, pushing us to readily;

▪︎ Accept Others

Intolerance and discrimination are the first indicators that love is lacking.

This is a common problem in our society today.

Everyday, we see hate targeted at certain people due to their race, beliefs, or social class simply because other folks assume they're undeserving of more.

This is wrong.

Love inspires us to place humanity above everything else, appreciating the good in others because it's all that we truly see in them.

When we love a person we approach them with open-mindness, hardly judgmental of them because it's not in our place to do so.

Also, on a more personal note, love opens our eyes to the potentials our family and friends possess, long before others catch up and before it's the popular thing to do.

▪︎ Be Unifiable 

Unity isn't uniformity of character but togetherness established on the basis of oneness of purpose.

Once we accept one another, it becomes easier for us to move in the same direction achieving great things.

Love unites us as we come together to work in ways beneficial to everyone involved because we have the same goal of wanting the best for one another.

When there's no side selfishly looking for ways to be satisfied even at detriment of others, there's cooperation and commitment to do things for the bigger course.

This is love.

▪︎ Be Forgiving 

Forgiveness isn't something that comes easy to everyone because it stands in the way of ego and self exaltation.

When others hurt us in certain ways we may feel this urge to revenge as a way of paying them back, showing that we are not weak.

Yet love doesn't seek vengeance because it doesn't want to prove any point.

Love makes us forgiving because even if we're raging, we still care enough that we don't want them hurt, let alone be the cause of it.

▪︎ Be Reliable 

Love inspires us to be reliable, showing up for those we love because being present in their lives is something we enjoy.

Inconsistency and being reminded or pushed to our responsibilities comes from feeling burdened by them because we lack love, which is a needed driving force.

When we love someone we come through for them excitedly because we want to ease their load or put a smile on their face.

■ How To Respond To This Love 

Being on the receiving end of love also inspires us to grow because we understand that this version of us can no longer rightly reciprocate the love it's been given.

When a person out of love continues to cut us some slack, laying aside the things we know hurt them, remorse should inspire us into repentance.

We can't love a person and be comfortable with always apologizing, without showing any intentional and committed efforts to change.

Otherwise, we are only taking them for granted and don't care about their feelings as much as we think we do.

This isn't love.

We can still work on those flaws that love has allowed us to be accepted for, because having someone look beyond our shortcomings should inspire us to do more for them by becoming more.

Summary:

The world would be a better place if we all loved one another genuinely.

Love allows us to experience better relationships, giving our best to relate well with each other because we care enough to do so.

Yet, this is impossible to give when we've not first received it, because how do we learn how to?

This is where Jesus Christ comes in.

God offers us genuine love so that while we were yet sinners He died for us giving us His grace for which we are unworthy of, for love's sake.

All we have to do is believe.

Then to reciprocate this love we begin to see Him in others relating to them better according to this grace that we've received.

Quite simply, this means that for love's sake we've been saved, so that we can be used to show love to others, through service and servitude; worthy servants of the master.

Master Apprentice.

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