Love Manifest

This may sound a bit silly, or cliché, given the Holiday occurring near to the date of this post; but, I have been thinking to myself lately about what love really is. So many people, practically everyone, seem to know what love is, and yet can't seem to participate fully or grasp its eternal and grossly important significance. Love is more than just a feeling, a thought, an action, a word, a desire, or a state of being. Love is life. Life is good. Good is God's perfect will manifested in something measurable, tangible, or observable. After each of God's creations, he said, "it is good." He meant, this is the joy that is wrought from my will which is perfect in every way. Goodness, is the operation of God's will, the state of being purposed and complete. In the scriptures we see such a connection between several words representing both concepts, so I would venture to say that love should be defined as such. First, God is love. When we participate in love, we are joining ourselves with our creator. Jesus was in a human body that was filled and perfected with the fullness of God. As was he, so are we through our salvation and the accepting of the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives. This gives us all strength, power, and wisdom to be the perfection of God's will as a body of believers. This does not mean we will ever be perfect. Perfection is only achievable outside of a realm in which sin is a part. Perfection can only fully exist where there is an absence of sin. That is only with God the father in Heaven. However, we can be an example and vessel of God's perfect love for people by delighting in and celebrating who God is and by seeking first Him in every aspect of our lives. Second, love is non judging. We learn in the Bible that true love (note the "true") keeps no record of wrong doing. If we truly love our neighbors, their sin will be irrelevant Ignored? No, not at all. Quite the opposite, only perfection can identify imperfection. Perfect love, will reveal the sin of the sinner to the sinner. This is not a matter of words meant for condemnation. But actions of servitude, grace, and mercy. We are to speak the truth in love. To speak is not to talk, it is to communicate, to convey, and to demonstrate. True love is the only way to reveal truth. Just as the old saying goes, "actions speak louder than words." Third, as love and actions go hand in hand, so do love and faith. Faith is the result of a love relationship. We have faith because we have love. Abraham revealed more his love for God than his faith in him by his willingness to sacrifice Isaac. Faith is more than believing in an ideal or something not yet revealed. Faith is the life lived as evidence of that belief. If Abraham only believed in God and didn't understand and participate in God's love, he would not have put this relationship before his son. His step of faith revealed his love relationship. This is the relationship God wants with his people. To put the other's good above all else. When we put God first, we reveal our love, hence our faith, not only to God, but to the world that sees it. Last, love is fruitful. It produces life fruits that are a further representation of true love. Patience endures, kindness is pervasive, envy is put to death, and pride is humiliated. True love, is oneness with all that God is. That love was nailed to a cross and conquered death to earn a resting place in the hearts of men. God calls all creation to himself, love is his vessel. Christ is our hope.