"I love my camera", "I love my best friend" and "I love my wife" all contain the word 'love' but each of those "expressions of love" contain different connotations of the word.
It is written that "God is love," but do we really understand what that love is? Are we understanding the true meaning of the word as it relates to God? Consider this example from Ravi Zacharias.
"When I tell you that God loves you and now I tell you "I love you," it's the same word but a different connotation. When I love you and you refuse to love me, I hurt because I have lost something. When God loves you and you refuse to love God, God hurts because YOU have lost something.
Do we love like that? Is our love for others dependent upon whether or not they love us back? If it is, we are using the wrong connotation of the word . . . the wrong definition?
How do you define love? Do you love someone enough to give yourself away sexually to another person? That is NOT love. That is lust. There is no sacrifice, only selfishness. Look to God's Word for the true definition of love and just what it means to say, "I love you."
"In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." - 1 John 4:9-11
Before my father died, his children all had the opportunity to tell him we loved him. What a blessing that was! Since that day I have not been hesitant to tell other I love them. It's kind of liberating really. It is liberating because I myself am not looking to BE loved but to love. Any love received in return is simply icing on the cake and a blessing. But OH, what a blessing it is.
Tell someone you love them today. That is your challenge. Tell someone "I love you" and see what happens. You might be very surprised. But be sure to define the meaning of your words first! You could wind up in jail . . . or married! LOL!
God has blessed us with the ability to love and to be loved. Let's do that! As long as it is called today. :)
"34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:34
Let It Rain - Eric Clapton
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