Tis the Season to Love...No, LOVE ALWAYS!

This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us, "We should also lay down our lives for our brothers." If anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need but closes his eyes to his need --how can God's love reside in him?

LITTLE CHILDREN, WE MUST NOT LOVE WITH WORD OR SPEECH, BUT WITH TRUTH AND ACTION.

- 1 John 3:16-18

Too often the human race gets by on mere empty words of love. There are plenty of great love songs, poems, movies, and Pinterest quotes to supply an eternity of romantic and loving verbosity. North American laziness of lexicon has broadened the use of the word love to everything from one's soul mate to the double-dip Rocky Road ice cream cone. No matter the usage, or the lack there of, we were created to want it, need it, and give it. Why? It's our material makeup: we are created out of it, by it, and for it. We were created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and God is LOVE (1 John 4:8).

How often have we heard this from:

Parents to children: "I love you so very much, more than life itself...you know that right?" But yet the stands are empty at the basketball games, the push is about constant performance over that of the child's character, and/or there is more money being spent on the kids than time being spent with them. There is a lack of discipline and boundary setting. Parents want to be friends more than they want to parent, but children are crying out for their parents to be mom and dad, not their BFFs. They want guidance, boundaries, and rules. They may not call them this or realize it, but that is what they long for and they push every which way to get it, because they long to be LOVED and that is what LOVE would mean for them.

Children to parents: "I love you to the moon and back... I love you more..., no, I love you more (and so on)". It's all very cute, but what we have stopped teaching our children is that LOVE is action. Love shows up greatest when times are most inconvenient and hard. Love for parents shows up in obedience and respect and honor. It's not this cozy feeling because my parents have given me everything I want and taken me everywhere I want to go. No, that would be called spoiling and neglecting one's child's character.

Spouses: "I love you till death do us part, sickness, and in health... I would die for you... do anything for you..." but when the going get tough, the spouses give up and get going. There isn't the showing of the humble servant's attitude and sacrificial doing whatever it takes for the other spouse to become more like Christ. There's a constant, "well if he will do this, then I will..." or "she never... so I am not going to ... until..." There isn't the doing of love that says, "Your needs will come first"... it just becomes easier to SAY "I love you" than to DO "I love you".

Neighbors and self: "I'll pray for you"..."Oh, I am so sorry, you will be in my thoughts and prayers"...those are all good and I am not saying we shouldn't pray for one another. Definitely do that, but it shouldn't be prayers alone. It is easy to say you will pray for someone in the comfort of your home. How much harder is it for you to pray for the family who has lost a loved one while you are cooking an extra meal to bring them, or mowing their lawn, or taking care of their children along with your own? How much easier is it to give money to an organization than to go and volunteer your time and energy to help repaint, build, or sit and listen to those who are hurting. Loving is often inconvenient, uncomfortable, unpleasant, and often unreciprocated, but I tell you it is never unnecessary!

"Love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:31). This is the second greatest command given by Jesus. One of the things that is so often overlooked in this verse is the implication of loving oneself. Jesus isn't telling anyone to love in a vain and self-indulgent manner, but in a healthy, righteous, and humble mien. You and I were created in the image of God, that means something! Why do we often live as though we weren't or as though everyone else was yet we have no idea who created us? I believe that one of the most significant reasons why our world is hurting and struggling to love others is because we have lost our understanding of how to rightly love ourselves.

To begin with, if we are looking for our self worth in things, people, sex, money, fame, status, careers, children, you name it, then we will always be lacking in the ability to love ourselves properly. One of my favorite quotes is by Paul Tripp, "Identity amnesia always leads to identity replacement." If we don't know who we are, where we came from, why and for what reason we were created, then we search for those answers, and until we have them we are constantly trying to fill the hole with unfulfilling answers. The only truth is Christ. God created us (Genesis 1:27) and He wants a relationship with us. The problem is we are all sinners and do not meet God's standards of righteousness (Romans 3:23). But in and through His loving grace for us, He provided a way, and we are celebrating Him this season at Christmas. Christ came and died for our sins so that we could live with Him forever.

Our new birth in Christ is important, but it is only the beginning. If we stop there, we are not living the authentic Christian life that God designed and desires for us. He desires us to love one another (John 13:34-35) and share the wonderful gift that God gives. We cannot do this if we are not properly loving God, ourself, our spouse, our children, and our neighbor. May this Christmas season be a reminder to us to love one another as Christ did, He came (action) in the form of a baby. He sacrificed his life for ours (action) so that we might have eternal life with Him. He could have just said, "Trust me, how many times do I have to tell you, I love you?" He didn't, He showed up, and solved our eternal problem because He LOVES us that much. I pray that you and I can learn to LOVE others even half that much, to the glory and honor of Him who exemplifies LOVE! He is LOVE! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

-Pamela Cubas

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