simple love

This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.*

Hi everyone,
my life has been busy these last few weeks and so I haven't had the time to post. I noticed today that it has now been a year since I started this blog. I have enjoyed thinking through ideas and sharing them with you, dear reader. I hope you will continue with me into the future. Please feel free to comment your ideas and thoughts. I have a whole bunch of ideas that I want to get out, but I'll also love to hear if you agree, disagree with me or just want clarification or whatever!
So today, explore with me the complexity of love.

Love is not simple.
Love is hard and complex, challenging and stretching, it's rewarding and enriching. But it's not simple.
There are great things to do that can show love without getting personally involved in peoples lives or having close connections.** But most of the time love requires relationships that take time, energy and thought.
Loving forgiveness. Loving truth. Loving joy. Loving generosity. Loving peace. Loving kindness. Loving hope. Loving patience. Loving humbly. Loving unconditionally.
It's just not simple. Love is not just romance and marriage. Love is for the spouse, neighbour and enemy! I don't think it can be put down into law, it is beyond a law. In many places I find we have an expectation that if it's in policy to respect others that will result in respect in practice, but I just don't see that as who we are as people! So all those who are fighting for some set definition of how love looks like, I encourage you to think deeply about what the end result will achieve. Will a change in definition or policy or wording make the heart difference you are seeking? Love can't be forced! Love can't be contained. Love is shared, it fills and overflows.

I have spent the last day reflecting on these verses and what they say about love:

Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18).

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice on wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).

[Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:5).

For I {God} will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember sin no more (Jeremiah 31:34).

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another (Galatians 5:13).

In my own strength I find it hard to love. I am quick to judge and complain. I am proud and self-righteous. In God's mercy I am slowly and continually learning what it means that love is mainly not what I give to God, but what I receive from Him.* Perfect love is one willing to die for a friend and make sacrifices. It is one that will go to extreme lengths to restore relationships, as God did in becoming a man. Love keeps no record of wrongs and hopes for better things. If God can do that for me, how can I not seek to do that for God and others!

Reflection: my first blog post was about being a better friend. I guess the truth is that I am still learning this, and continuing to see how complex this simple four letter word really is!

*1 John 4:10
**http://www.st-thomas.org.au/simple-love-initiative/