But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
Hello everyone, it's Valentine's week and I hope you are all feeling suitably mushy!
I'm going to start straight off by looking at what love is to me so if this challenges some of your perceptions then good, I've gone and done my job.
Let's start where we need to start then...
Part One - Love, Joy & Peace
If I say the word love, what do you immediately think of?
Roses?
Chocolates?
A special person?
Kisses under the moonlight?
All of those might be a natural response to an emotion which can be strong and consuming at times yet dying and cold at other times.
For me, as the once self-professed #ManWithNoExes on social media, I have to think on a much higher plane; Almighty God.
You see, to me I jump straight away to scripture and a verse that spells it out in 1 John 4:8 that reads as follows: -
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
For people to consider their special partner this Valentine's week are on the one hand pandering to how commercialised Valentine's Day has become, yet on the other are in fact celebrating that at this moment in time truly special to them.
I cannot write from a relationship stand-point because I've never had one, but even I know that a relationship starts with love. At times it is a love that has to be all-encompassing, all-forgiving and all-conquering, which is precisely why I love God so much.
He saved me over twenty years ago and turned me into the man of God I am today that sees my completion in Christ and Christ alone, not on whether I have a girlfriend or not.
Sure, my posts over the last couple of years might have belied that impression, but thanks to the disappointments of last year, I have learnt that nothing sways me from the fact that my God loves me just as I am. Therefore, I can agree with the writer of Romans chapter 8 who spoke it thus: -
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I have been through a long and arduous journey to get to the point where I can honestly say that because this has not worked out with a girl I truly fell in love with last March, I don't care if I never meet another soul that affects me like she has.
I have God.
God is all I need.
Final Thought
Therefore, I take joy in my relationship with my God because it is the fact that He saved me, the fact that He loves me and the fact that He'll never leave me that shows me that I don't need a partner to be truly successful in life because I am that damn good as a singleton!
See what peace this gives me?
Sure, it always stings at this time of year as TV adverts, card shops and others inadvertently rub it in your face that Valentine's Day is worth getting all mushy over, but I have to transcend that and be content in the fact that I have God, God has me and that's all I need right now.
What about you? Have you a love like no other? Would you do almost anything for it? Would you sacrifice your own happiness for it?
I've already said it, I would quite happily give up any desire to be a husband and father because I already have the Greatest Treasure that I will ever need; God!
Peace!
===TLP===
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