"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."
"I have fallen out of love with them." "I do not love them anymore." "I have no more love to give."
These statements are made by people everywhere every day. But I do not believe any of these statements can be true. A bold thing to say I know, but let me explain why. Growing up I was made to understand that love was warm feelings that you got for someone you enjoyed being around. This is obviously a childish definition for love, and I believe that most people would be willing to agree that love is indeed much more that that. The average person is well aware that love is much more than warm feelings, they are aware that there will be bumps in the road and are willing to walk over those bumps when they appear, maybe even a small hill. But what I've noticed about myself and so many others is the tendency to revert back to that puerile definition of love when all the sudden in the road there appears a 90 degree angle cliff. "Nope, this isn't right." "Not me, there is no way I will trek this mountain. I can't and I won't. This must mean I need to turn around." This attitude is often the first reaction for most of us. And there is some truth to this initial reaction. It is indeed quite impossible for us to take a trek of that magnitude alone. But there's the catch, alone. I'm sure by now many of you know where I am going with this. Yes, I am saying that we are not meant to do it alone, God is the one who will take us through it. He is here to walk this road with us, whatever cliche way you would like to put it. But that is not simply all. You see, it is so easy to say we need God's help and leave it at that. But it is so much greater than just that. We don't need God's "help" and He does not need ours. Even admitting that we need God's help on this journey is not enough. To say that would be to say we are still walking this road alone, with God on the curbside. And then when a bump arises we look back at God and ask Him to swiftly carry us over it, and then leave us to be on our way. No, no no. He is to be in front of us, guiding our every last step. Leading us from moment to moment. This is not our life to do on our own with the occasional request of His assistance. He is leading. And we are following. So what does this have to do with love? Well I believe it means that we are capable of giving 100% more than what we do or think we can. So often people tend to believe there is a point in time where we can run out of love, or have no more in us to give. But this is not true. 1 John 4:7 says, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." This clearly states that any love we have or give comes from God. And God does not run out of love. His love is infinite. So if our love comes from Him, then how could we ever run out? How could we ever stop loving someone? How can we reach the point of no return? Where there are no more second chances or no more forgiveness? I believe this point comes only when we are loving on our own strength, which we have never been intended to do.
So what does this look like in our everyday lives? What will it mean for our relationships and the way we deal with tragic disappointments or situations that seem unbearable? It means that no amount of time, effort or pain will take love away. It means painstaking sacrificing and patience. I think it means that hope is never lost. There is always forgiveness to be given. It means loving those around us even when they are "unloveable." On our own strength and will power this is not possible. There will always be that situation or wrong done to you that breaks you to your very core and we have nothing left in us to keep going. And that is when we call on Christ and He replenishes our soul. And through His love, we CAN keep loving. Please do not take this to mean that there are not times in life where we let go of a certain person or situation. I'm not talking about staying in an unhealthy, ungodly relationship. And even letting go of something like that does not mean we can't still love. But I'm talking about truly loving those that God has placed in our lives to have a relationship with day in and day out. The ones we are specifically called to love. Our family, our friends, our partner, our coworkers, our neighbors. Let us realize how likely it is that there may be more bad times than good. Maybe more struggles than easy going times. But so what? When were we promised that life would be that way? Many know the phrase "life's not easy" but it seems that even if we know this, we still expect more easy than difficult. We often lose our fight when the seemingly impossible cliff arises. But there lies the point. We can't do it and weren't meant to. You were not meant to handle your adulteress spouse alone. You are not expected to solely and sufficiently love your rebellious child. We are not built to manage that hateful coworker who gets at us out of spite. Or even the innocent tragedies, we were never meant to undergo it alone. So that is why I don't believe in "no more love." This of course does not mean the road becomes easier. Or that suddenly loving people unconditionally comes naturally. But it does become possible. 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us." How comforting to know that we aren't on our own strength. I have been shown and taught this love through people in my life that I will never come close to deserving. They have loved me when I was unloveable. When I am selfish, irrational, and honestly just crazy. But there they are and will continue to be. I have failed them and they will fail me but God's love through us is sufficient. It holds against every trial and it is worth every last ounce of fight we have to give.
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