True Love

"Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs....It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love seems to be so elusive for so many in today's society.  Recently we found that some friends of ours, that have a 3 year old like we do, are getting a divorce.  My heart breaks for them.  While I do know that marriage is difficult, it seems that so many are willing to throw in the towel instead of fighting for their marriages.  I have difficulty understanding this and have wondered why love seems to be so difficult to sustain in today's society. 

A few nights ago, as I was reading one of the books in my favorite series of Christian fiction, The Mitford Series by Jan Karon, I had a thought (I do have thoughts rather frequently, but this one struck me so - I even jotted it down :-). 

You cannot have true love unless you know God's love. 

God's love is really the only true love that exists.  We are human and flawed so no matter how hard we try, we cannot give and sustain true love with another flawed human.  Somewhere in there, selfishness creeps in and we fail to give of ourselves the way God has given and continues to give of himself.  The only thing that allows us to continue in a monogamous relationship with one other flawed human is if we are continuously attempting to be like Jesus Christ and generously giving out the grace that God so generously heaps on us. 

Without being filled with God's love, we are trying in vain to fill our empty places with the love from another human being.  But no matter how hard they try and we try, they cannot fill that space.  Once you know God's love, then you are free to love as He loves - unconditionally. 

I am not saying it is easy - just that it is necessary in order to truly experience what God wants for us in our relationships with our spouses.  In order to be and do all that is listed in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, we must seek God first and fulfill ourselves with His love.  Then the rest will follow...

In His Grace....