Now That's True Love

   Love. You might think that it's simply a word. Love to you may be associated with your favourite film or song, but what if I told you that Love is so much more. The motive behind Jesus's sacrifice of His own body? It was because of Love.

   It's more than a phony cinema based on confusion and fleshly lusts. Love is like a Medal of Honor that's tenderly graced around Christ's neck. God is Love, and this is the Love that brings healing, hope, and freedom through Salvation. Love is redeeming, because our Mighty Redeemer poured out His Love to the very end.

   Love is good. Everybody wants to be loved. Not everybody feels loved. This does not change the truth that everyone is indeed cherished by a Perfect Love.

   Love comes with a price. No, I'm not talking about the cost of a beautiful diamond ring. I'm talking about a ring of thorns - The price our Perfect Prince paid for the promise of saving our souls from destruction.

   Our Prince is alive today and one-hundred percent real, unlike fairy take princes who are completely fictional and make believe. Our Prince is the Prince of Peace.

   Peace. Everyone seeks to find this peace. We all are born with a hole inside our souls that is constantly searching for anything to help relieve the hurt. It aches us. It's a gaping emptiness that pleads to be healed. It's also glaringly evident that nothing of this world seems to end the pain. That is because nothing of this world could ever possibly fill us.

   Now you may be wondering where I'm going with all this. Love? Peace? Emptiness? What am I saying? God is Love, and Love is good, and God loves us. 

   Ever notice how one's entire attitude and mindset changes when he or she is aware that someone loves him or her? It's as if there is a light that's been switched on that makes the dark hurt that once was there flee away, or like a missing puzzle piece that's been found and completes a picture.

   Oh yes! That's it! The aching hole within us all that we were just talking about. This is what we've found to fill it - Love. Not just some human love, but God's love. God's perfect Love is what fills us.

   "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 them." (1 John 4:16)

   So, it is written that God loves us and that He is Love. When we accept this Love-gift, we're making the decision to live our lives in God's Love. Each day we breathe it in and give it out, and we aspire to be more like Him. In doing this Love-walk, the Holy Spirit starts to fill us with the Fruits of the Spirit of the Lord.

   Now wait a minute. The Holy Spirit of the Living God dwells in us when we accept Jesus - God's Love-gift to us. The Fruit of the Spirit is now being produced in our hearts and our lives.

   "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." (Galatians 5:22-23)

   Wow! Those are wonderful things to be producing within us! So where is the room for emptiness when we are filled with all this goodness? Because we are Christ's all of this abundance is flourishing in our souls, and it begins when we deny our old sinful ways.

   "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit." (Galatians 5:24-25)

   Crucifixion is the cost for that goodness and peace, but thankfully the real sacrificial part is already paid in full. The price that comes of Love I mentioned? That was Christ's blood. Our Perfect Prince was slain to give us the gift of life with Him, and now He lives on! Because the Lord Loves us so much, He sacrificed His only Son - the spotless Lamb of God - for our redemption. 

   We are freed of bondage - all we have to do is drop the chains and take up our cross. We are His children forevermore. Now that's true Love.

   -The Introverted Evangelist