The Love Triangle

   Once upon a time there was a young princess. She was told by all those that she knew that she was beautiful and she was loved by all the people in the land. Her father told her “you must remember who you are no matter what happens to you during your life.” For some time the girl did remember who she was but then she began to grow up.

   The girl grew away from her father. She started to dress in unflattering ways like the popular girls in the kingdom. She began to disobey her parents. The princess took her eyes off of her Father.

One night she found herself in an alley. Her dress was tattered, she was sick, and there was no one there to help her. All of her friends had abandoned her. The princess realized that she had forgotten who she was. She ran home. Then she burst into the throne room where her parents waited, sick with worry. The princess hugged her parents and told them she was sorry.

   She began to read her Bible more. The princess had a hunger for learning about her Father like no other in the kingdom. She had put her eyes back on the father. The princess also began to pray that her relationship with her Father would grow. And, that her future prince would keep his eyes on the father.

   In another kingdom there was a prince. He had thrown many parties, invited many women, and had wine there. He was not making good decisions. The prince loved the life of a bachelor. Until, one day, his parents decided to cut him off. For the good of their son and the kingdom they kicked him out of the castle.

   The prince could not understand why his parents would disown him. He asked his friends to help him. But, his friends wanted nothing to do with him. He joined a band of miscreants and began to lie, cheat, and steal. This went on for 2 years until one day he too woke up in an alley all alone. The prince felt a tug on his heart that day. He realized that he had forgotten who he was.

   The prince went home and begged for his parents’ forgiveness. His parents did forgive him. And, the prince began to read his Bible. His relationship with the Father began to grow. His eyes were back on the Father.

   The Father began to move the princess and the prince together. One day, while at a royal ball, the prince and the princess met. Both of them had gone through a lot, and they had been waiting a long time to meet each other. They began courting. And, one day the prince asked the princess to marry him. The princess agreed and they lived happily ever after.

   Obviously, this is a fictitious story. But, the message behind it rings true. In order for a relationship to work it cannot be just a relationship between husband and wife. It must be a love triangle made up of husband, wife, and Jesus.

   In this story the princess and the prince were not anywhere close to meeting one another until they fixed their eyes on the Father. Before, one can meet their significant other he/she must have a relationship with God. Think about it: when you were in middle school or high school what were you like? If you would have met your spouse then, would you have gotten together? More than likely you would not have gotten together because you still needed to grow.

   The point of this story is to say that, if you are still waiting to meet your spouse you need to keep your eyes fixed on God. If you are not growing in him then God will not move you toward your spouse. And, if your spouse’s eyes are not fixed on God then you still will not meet. Thus, you must also pray that your spouse will fix his/her eyes on God.

   If you are married or with someone, you do not get out of this either. You need to continue to grow in God. It is just that now you can grow with each other. You should be holding one another accountable and should still have your love triangle with Jesus.

   So, do you have your eyes fixed on the Father? If you do not, what are you going to do in order to fix your eyes on the Father again?

   Hebrews 12:2, Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, Colossians 3:14

Quoting Love

   It is finally here. The day that is either relished or reviled: Valentine's Day. If you have a significant other, you may or may not enjoy Valentine's Day. Whether you enjoy Valentine's Day or not it is a good holiday to remind us about something really important to God: love.

   Love is a word that tends to be overused in today's society. Even though it is sometimes overused, or even used incorrectly, sometimes something very profound comes from society using this word. With that in mind, I'd like to go through some quotes about love that remind us of the true meaning of love.

   Piglet: "how do you spell love?" Pooh: "you don't spell it, you feel it." I don't know if you know this but Winnie-the-Pooh is a very profound character. He has some of my most favorite quotes and I'd encourage you to check out some others. Back to my point though: this is one quote that I don't entirely agree with. Many people nowadays think that love is just a feeling. However, in Matthew 22:37-40 says: "Jesus replied: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Of course, we are called to love God, but we are also called to love our neighbors. Do you love everyone you come into contact with? Do you feel good, fuzzy, kind feelings about the person wrongs you? No? That's because love isn't a feeling. Love is a verb. Love is showing respect to someone even if it doesn't seem like they deserve it. I mean, just look at what Jesus did on the cross for us while we were sinning against him.

   Dug: "I was hiding under your porch because I love you." In this movie, Up, Carl is an older man who just wants to be alone. Even though he yells at Dug, who is a dog, Dug still stays loyal to Carl. He still loves Carl. Dug is like Jesus. He is always there for us; we just need to choose to let him in. It is just like in Revelation 3:20 "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me." Jesus doesn't force himself on us. He gives us free will to choose Him. He loves us enough to wait until we are willing to let His love in.

   Olaf: "Some people are worth melting for." Olaf is a snowman in the movie Frozen. You and I both I know what happens to a snowman when he gets in front of heat: he melts. Olaf chose to care for Anna, who was sick, when he knew he could melt. Olaf is willing to sacrifice himself to care for someone else. Jesus gave an even greater sacrifice than Olaf. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Jesus died to save all of us from our sin. He died because he loves us. He died so he could be with us in heaven. We are called to follow his example, take up our crosses, and die to ourselves each day. We are called to love others as well.

   So, on Valentine's Day, I encourage you to think about love today. Are you showing love to others no matter what? Have you let Jesus' love into your heart so you can be with him forever? What can you do to show Jesus' love to others today?

   Image from here.

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The Proof of Love

   It's that time of year again when men are scrambling till the last minute to get gifts for their beloved, women are waiting for their beloved to prove his love (possibly by putting a ring on it), and children are looking forward to the candy shock they'll get from all their Valentine's. Whether you think that this holiday is just for the chocolate, flower, and card companies to earn more money or you actually enjoy the holiday many of us can agree that this holiday is about love. Do we actually know what love is?
   I've said it before and I'll say it again it is hard to define love. We use that word so much for many different things, like fries and our family. And, God tells us to love him and love others. Obviously this kind of love is different from loving fries (btw I recommend fries with a frosty [ice cream], if you try it I'm sure it'll change your world). How can we show love to people who are mean to us, falsely accuse us, steal from us, and sometimes even worse?
   For all practical purposes we cannot show that kind of love until we ask Christ for help and know that love, in this context, means showing respect.
   There's a song by For King and Country called The Proof of Your Love. How do we know that we are showing God's love to others? This song gives us some answers. The song says: "If I sing but don't have love I waste my breath with every song." Now, this is written by a singer. He is singing about God's love. He's seen in the public eye and known as a Christian. If he doesn't show God's love he's called a hypocrite. As Christians we sing about God's love and loving others a lot. Do we actually believe and do what those songs say?
   The chorus of the song says: "So let my life be the proof, the proof of your love let my love look like You and what You're made of how you lived, how you died love is sacrifice." We call ourselves Christians. That means followers of Christ. If we follow Christ that means we are to try to emulate him. That means we are to be the proof of God's love to others. Yet, we have Christians who don't help others, don't give money to the ones who need it most, and who think that they are better than everyone else! If Jesus had that same mentality we would be in big trouble because we'd be dead. Once we die, we'd go to hell.
   But, Jesus knew the true meaning of sacrifice. He gave others his time, he taught others about God's love, and he made the ultimate sacrifice for us. Talk about proving that you love someone. He died to save us, there's no greater love than that.
   It's time that we start showing others God's love. If we don't show God's love to others then what is the point of saying we are Christian? There is no point if we don't love! The reason we are called hypocrites most of the time is because we sin and don't show love. It's time for our lives to prove God's love as we are called to do.
   So, do you know what love means? Are you showing God's love to others by sacrificing of yourself? 

   John 13:34-35, John 15:13, John 3:16

   Lyrics for The Proof of Your Love by For King and Country.

   Image from here.

Who Is My Valentine?

I have a secret Valentine,
Because of Him I can let my light shine.
He cares so much for me,
Which should make me want to squeal with glee.
But I have betrayed my love,
Because instead of holding on I decided to shove.
I chose not to follow him, in my young age,
But I did not realize I was making my own cage, that should have filled Him with rage.
Instead of turning His back,
He chose to carry my betrayal like a sack.
He showed me the greatest love,
By coming down like a dove.
He chose to die for me,
So I could be set free!
No longer am I a slave,
Because he saved me from the grave!
He did it because he loves me,
And when I discovered this I got down on my knees.
I realized that there is no greater form of love
Than what my secret valentine did when push come to shove.
He did not only for me but for all of you,
He died for you so you could be with him too.
The only question there is left for you,
Is: will you choose to follow my secret valentine too?

   Do you realize that Jesus showed the greatest form of love? Did you know you can choose to have him as your Valentine? But when you choose to have him as your Valentine you cannot keep it a secret. I just shared my secret with you on my blog, but I have shared it in public too. We cannot keep this news a secret. We must shout it from the rooftops that Jesus Christ is Lord! We must tell others that He died for them because he loves them! Will you spread the news of your secret Valentine?
   1 John 4:16-18, Matthew 28:16-20, John 4:9-12
   Image from here.

My Secret Valentine

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I have a secret Valentine

How about you?

I hate to admit it

But I have betrayed my love before

Even though I did that

He still loves me all the more

He gave me the greatest gift

Even though it is much more than I deserve

He paid the ultimate price

And is a great example of how to serve (others)

My secret Valentine doesn’t just love me

He loves everyone in the world too

The only question is

Do you know that he also loves you?

   For twenty three years now I have been on this earth. I still have a lot to learn but I have learned quite a few things during my time here. One thing I have learned is that if you are talking with other girls one specific topic is bound to come up: boys/men. This topic especially comes up when you are in middle school, go to a Bible college, or if you are a 20 some year old who has never had a boyfriend.

   I’ve heard countless sermons, read blogs, and had conversations with people about relationships. Everyone seems to have different ideas about love and relationships. And, most people are so focused on love and relationships that they forget the most important relationship. They forget who our first Valentine is: Jesus.

   Jesus gave all of us the greatest Valentine, Christmas, or Easter gift we could ever receive. Without this gift our lives would have no meaning. But, most people seem to forget the fact that Jesus should be our first love. And, in order to show our love to him our relationship needs to grow with him. This means we need to want to learn about him, spend time with him, and pray. Just like with any other relationship, we need to spend time with our loved one.

   So, are you focusing too much on the relationship you have/don’t have with a significant other? If you are, what can you do to remember the true Valentine you have? What can you do to show your love to Jesus?

   Luke 10:27, Deuteronomy 6:5, 1 John 4:19

The Greatest Love

   While I was student teaching at Lancaster County Christian School every day they have a verse of the day. On Valentine’s Day the verse was John 15:13 which says “greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends(some translations say brother).” Because I was working with first graders, I figured I would need to discuss this verse a little more.

   I asked the students what they thought this verse meant. They said it was talking about love but they could not get much more out of it. I decided to flesh out the verse a little more. I started off with saying we use the word love a lot. We say “I love cheese curls,” and “I love my mom.” Is that the same kind of love? They said yes and no. We did a bit of a history lesson and I told them that the Bible was written in many languages, one of them was Greek. In Greek there are five different words for love.

   I said do you love your brother/sister? Some students said yes, others said no. I then went into would you die for your brother? Many students said no.

   Next we talked about the greatest commandment and the second greatest commandment. We are to love God and love others. I talked about to love others we need to be nice to them and forgive them.

We then discussed what Jesus did for us. Jesus had agape love for us (back to the Greek words). His love for us was unconditional. Jesus forgave us of our sins and took away our guilt. He was willing to die for us before we were even on this earth. While we may not be willing to die for our family members or a complete stranger, Jesus was. This got the students thinking about what love really is.

   Why am I telling you all of this? It is because I want you to think about if you really know what love is. So many songs are written about love. But, many people do not actually know what love is. Real love isn’t the love you have for cheese curls or temporary things. Real love is unconditional. I should not have to buy someone’s love and, if I do, then that person will never really love me.

   Also, though we may never be asked to lay down our lives for anyone we need to think about what Jesus would do. As we grow in Christ we must stop thinking about the things of this world and start thinking about eternity. What can we do to help others in eternity? We can follow the Great Commission and love others by saving them from death. We need to tell others the good news so that none may perish but that all would feel the love of Jesus and have eternal life.

   So, do you actually know what love is? Are you willing to show others the unconditional love that Christ has shown us?

   Mark 12:29-31, Luke 6:35, Matthew 28:16-20