What it Means to Love....The meaning behind the name

So here it is. Drumroll please. MY FIRST BLOG POST!

Over the past few days I have been trying to come up with some super-awesome creative name for my blog. I tried and tried with not much luck, and then as I was driving to dance listening to a CD my friend gave me, a song by Meredith Andrews came on. The song is called What it Means to Love. Listening to the lyrics, I was reminded that my life is not my own, it is not about having the best blog name, or the most followers, but instead my life is an offering to God. So incase you have never heard this song, here are some of the lyrics:  

Now I no longer live for myself

Your words are so clear

Help me live it loud enough so they can hear

So how could I go back to life as usual

And how could I return to who I once was

I just want to take your story to the world

'Cause you have shown me WHAT IT MEANS TO LOVE

 In today's instant gratification culture, the meaning of love is dramatically different than the love that God calls us to show and that he himself showed through the death and resurrection of his son. It is so easy to "love your neighbor" by dropping change in the Salvation Army bucket at Christmas time or bringing cans to school during Thanksgiving, neither of which are bad things, but these kind actions alone are not true love. Well, now that we have established what showing God's love isn't, I guess we should say what is, and there is no better place to turn than God's word. The first passage that comes to my mind is in 1 Corinthians chapter 13 verse 4-7. It says:

"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice, but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance."

I think what Paul is saying to the Corinthians (and us as well) is that love is not one kind act, love is a lifestyle, and if we live our lives right, it will radiate through all we do. The second verse that helps me to see what it means to really love comes from John chapter 15. In verse 13 John says:

"There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friend."

Laying down one's life for a friend requires becoming selfless, thinking of others instead of yourself and putting God's will first in your life. Also, if the greatest love is laying down one's life for a friend, then Jesus is the complete embodiment of love; he suffered death on a cross so we could have life, and for that I am eternally grateful! 

I hope this gave you a little insight into my life and what God has been teaching me, and I am looking forward to see how God continues to move and show me what it truly means to love. 

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Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:39.