Imitating Love

Happy Valentine's Day!

This is a day people usually either really love, really hate, or really don't care anything about.

I'm the one who's more on the end of not caring so much. Well... no, not really. It's still a really fun day, and sometimes we do special things like bake cookies or a Valentiney dessert, or make Valentine cards for family. :) But since this holiday is aimed more for couples, and me not having a "special someone" to celebrate with, Valentine's Day's relationship with me has been more like...

Okay, so maybe that didn't really make sense. I just wanted to use this gif. Sue me.

Anyway, usually on Valentine's Day, I tend to think more on the amazing love God's shown toward me and all of us. So let's talk about that for a moment, shall we? :)

If you've been a Christian for any length of time, I'm sure you've read, or at least heard this passage of the Bible before: "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails." 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Now, in 1 John 4:8 it says that, "God is love."

And then, if we go over to Ephesians 5:1 we find that we're supposed to "be imitators of God as dear children."

SO -- if we put this all together, we see that God is love -- not just the definition of it -- He IS it. And so then, if God is love, then He is all those things in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8. God's patient. God's kind. All those things. And there in Ephesians it just told us that we're supposed to be imitators of God. AND SO, now that we've figured out that God is love, and that love is patient, kind, not envious, etc., we should now know what we are supposed to be imitating, right? We're supposed to be being patient, kind, not envious, not boastful, not proud, not dishonoring others, not self-seeking, not easily angered, not keeping any record of wrongs, not delighting in evil but rejoicing in the truth, always protecting, always trusting, always hoping, always persevering, and never failing.

Now, I know, you're probably thinking, "Faith, you seriously expect people to be able to keep up and do all that?" Well, it IS quite a tall order. But apparently God thinks it's doable. He does tell us in Philippians 4:13 that we "can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us."

"But, Faith," you continue. "no one's perfect." I know. No person except for Jesus has ever lived a perfect life here on this earth. We haven't always got it right. That's obvious. But so, because of that, should we stop striving for excellence? Should we stop trusting God to help us? In Philippians it doesn't just say, "I can do all things" and stop. No. It says, "I can do all things THROUGH CHRIST WHO STRENGTHENS ME." God's not expecting us to be imitators of Him -- of LOVE -- on our own strength. It's through GOD, trusting in Him for help and strength, that we will be able to love others the way God loves us.

So if you, and only you, are striving to be like God, like Love, well then, you're probably not going to get too far. But if you are doing those things with the help of God, through His strength, you can do anything that God has for you to do. I like that!

(Mind, I said to be LIKE God, not BE God, or be over Him. No no no. Be LIKE Him. Like, when you were younger and wanted to be LIKE your dad or mom, and imitated them in doing different things -- like wanting to build stuff or cook like they did. :) )

So there you have it. My thoughts for the evening. I hope that made sense. I think it did. Well, if all of it didn't, hopefully some of it did.
I hope the rest of your evening is wonderful -- full of love, roses, and chocolate. Or, if you're still single like me, maybe just chocolate. ;) And of course, full of thoughts on God's love and plans to strive to imitate Him in everything you do. :)

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! <3
~Faith