Birds And Bees And This Thing Called Love

Countless numbers of people, from young to old, from Atheist to Christian, from all walks of life, have asked this question. Many have pondered this question at one time or another and come up with many explanations to what Love is.

Some say I am in Love, or I feel Love, or I must be in Love. Love is more that just a feeling, more than just a desire, and often Love is not what a person feels at all. It is my intent here to address and answer the question what is Love?

First let's take a look at what Love is not.

Love is not a strong sexual feeling or physical attraction to someone or something.

Love is not something that dies after awhile, or switches on and off.

Love never seeks to destroy, wound or hurt anyone.

Love never blames or condemns.

There are those who say they Love God, yet in His name murder and kill men, woman and children, with guns, bullets and bombs. This is not Love.

I am sure many of you can add their own views and beliefs of what Love is not, as I know I am only listing a few of them.

In our world today, so many teenagers become pregnant at such a young age, children having children, and often the father is nowhere to be seen. Many say it was because they Loved each other and it just happened, but this is not Love.

Muslim extremists claim to Love God, (Allah) yet as demonstrated by their killing of innocence they do not know God or His Love.

The Church throughout history has massacred millions of people all in the name of the God whom they confess to Love, but this isn't Love.

Marriages and relationships that many thought were built on Love have broken into pieces. Good friends who say they Loved each other, have broken up and in some cases bitter feelings of hurt and resentment linger.

At the Alter, men and woman take their marriage vows before God and the congregation. They promise to LOVE, honor and obey each other. Yet a little later in their marriage, they part ways for many reasons. But there is one reason that I believe stands out more than any other, they have never known real Love. The excitement of the sex loses its thrill. The respect and patience they once had for each other has almost died. Some look for satisfaction in another whom they often call LOVERS. But True Love really never dies.

If they had Real Love before they married, if they had known what Real Love is, and knew the giver of Real Love, many today would still be together, and their children would not be caught up in the pain and hurt.

Marriage is an institution created by God. It is a Holy Union where two people join together as one and pledge their lives to each other. It's not something to do in order to satisfy man made laws. It is certainly not something to go through to have a big day and invite lots of friends and family. It is much more that this. Although these qualities can make a wonderful day to be remembered, it is much, much more than all this.

Marriage is a Holy union. But before you can enter into this union with each other and God, you must first know God. You need a relationship with God, and you need to understand His Love. You need to experience His Love in your heart, and understand how God Loves. Understand the depths that God went through to show you His Love and the price He paid for you!

When you have been touched by the Love of God, then you can truly know what Love is. Love is Power! When a man and a woman who have received Jesus Christ into their lives and He is made their first love, then they stand before their God, they stand before Him with Jesus' Love in their hearts.

God has placed His Love in your heart by Christ Jesus His Son. So now you have His Love in you. This cannot be said of those who do not know God or have not personally acknowledged Jesus as their Savior and Lord.

Now I realize that in spite of some not knowing God personally or His Love when they take these Holy Vows, God still Loves them and often blesses that union, with grace and peace. Often these couples find God and His Love through marriage. I am not saying that all marriages are doomed, because people were ignorant to God and His Love. He is a God of Supreme Love.

You may be wondering at this point, how do I Love?

And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good. (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

This was the Old Testament commandment given by God to His people, to Love God with all your heart and with all your soul. But man broke this covenant with God. He chased after other gods and loved himself and ungodly pleasures more than God. He chose hate, war, material riches and to love himself and others more than God. So man broke this covenant with God early on.

Nothing much has changed today as we look around us. But something has changed and it's changed the lives of countless peoples all over the world. God sent His Son into the world.
Man cannot Love God or each other in the way God desires. It's the same with salvation. You cannot earn it, or work for it. It is a gift from God. You cannot live by Gods Word without having the Holy Spirit living within you, and accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. You must understand the depth of Gods love for you. You need to understand the sacrifice God made for you, so you can experience His Love in your heart.

No living soul can Love with perfect Love until Gods Perfect Love has been instilled in their hearts. Without Jesus, we cannot know what Real Love is.

How did God reveal His Perfect Love?

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8)

I need to make it clear here that humans can show Love. It is something God has placed in us all. It is a choice we make. At times we limit our love to others. But what I am talking about in this message is not the human love with its limits. I am talking about Perfect Love. Agape Love-Gods Love. God's Perfect Love without limits.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. (1 John 4:16)

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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)

Because of Gods Perfect Love towards us, He sent His Son, Jesus, to take on our sins, our sicknesses and diseases, and He was punished in our place, so that through His death and resurrection, He could place His Love in our heart.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

All our past sins have been washed away in the blood Jesus shed, as atonement for sin. The moment you ask Jesus into your heart, you receive His forgiveness, and GODS PERFECT LOVE. As you continue to follow Him, read His word, pray and trust Him, His Love grows inside you. It will empower you to Love, even those who speak all manner of evil against you, those who lie about you, those who have abused you and hurt you. Instead of hatred and bitterness your desire will be for Jesus to save and change them as He did you. You will find yourself praying in tears and overwhelming Love for them. Even God Himself has said to you, "He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands." (Job 22:30)

When you are tired and have run out of steam, you will find yourself compelled by Gods Perfect Love and going that extra mile to help someone in need!

When a son, daughter, husband, wife, friend or anyone hurts you, you will not retaliate with bitter wounding words, because God Loves them and His Love in you will empower you to be silent and pray in your heart, knowing that God will bring a change in their lives just like he promised you in Job 22:30.

LOVE IS:

1. Pure and Unselfish. It never seeks its own Comfort or Pleasure.

2. Love is Kind and Compassionate.

3. Love is Patient and Longsuffering.

4. Love is Considerate and Merciful.

5. Love is Warm and never Cold.

6. Perfect Love is God; For God is the author of Love.

When God allowed His Son to be tied to a beating post, and receive the lashes of cruel whips. It was His Love for you. It was because He Loves you.

When they stripped Him naked and He suffered humiliation, when they spate upon Him, mocked Him and punched Him, He endured it because He Loved you with Perfect Love.

When they shoved that crown of thorns into His skull, when they laid Him down upon that cross and drove nails into His hands and feet, He allowed them to do so because He Loves you.

When they lifted Him up on that cross, ripping His wounds as it dropped into the hole, and as He hung their suffering for nine hours, He did so because He truly Loves you. He knew that He must pay the price for your salvation. He did not want you to be punished for the sin in your life. He, in Love, took your punishment. THIS IS LOVE! Yes my Friend, THIS IS LOVE!

It Was Love that took Jesus to the cross. It was Love that held Him there and not nails. It was Love that satan tried to kill, but he failed. Because Love was raised up from the grave and now that same Love lives in our heart.THIS IS LOVE! Until you have this Love in your heart by receiving Jesus as your Lord, You will never know how to Love Gods way.

There is an old hymn I have always liked that says:

O love that will not let me go,

I give you back the life I owe,

That it might richer, fuller be,

Make Jesus all that I can see.

Receive Jesus today and learn to Love Gods way.

The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (1 Peter 4:7-8)

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. (1 John 4:15-17)