Love is a commitment that should be ignited by choice for intimate relationship when you are ready (Songs of Solomom 8:4). The best example of Love is God. He is love. He gave us Love. He swims in love. He has loved us even before we knew him. He has known us before we were conceived (Jeremiah 1: 5a). We can only seek the practical manual of love from Him and not the human manual.
Everyone can claim to love but not everyone can walk in love. People mistake lust for love. They mistake sexual passion for love but they are different. Love has no conditions attached to it. If you are seeking to be loved by a man or woman before you can feel loved, then you lack love yourself. You cannot give what you don\’t have.
If God is love, He must have given us the rules on how to love then. So where do we get true love from? Where do we find true love from? I broke them down into the three(3) appearances of love.
Love appears in God first. It then transits to Men which helps us shower it to our neighbours. Our neighbor could be our loved ones, partner and people around us.
Let\’s look at God\’s manual of love in 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7. The. Bible explains that Love is kind, patient, enduring, long suffering etc. Love is patient even with the pressure we face around us in our relationships. Love doesn\’t boast or inflict any physical , sexual or emotional abuse. You. can\’t love someone and be boasting of what you have or have acquired.
Joyce Meyer says that \”Love is the highest form of maturity. It often requires a sacrifice. If there is nothing to give or loose, we probably don\’t love the other person at all. Love is almost always undeserved by the person receiving it. Sacrifice means you would not always have your way all the time. Its all about having unconditional love.\”
Ogbueli David of Dominion City says that \” Love deals with sacrifice. Love is the sustained direction of the will for the good of another. It has three types of flame; the yellow which is mostly based on lust (Eros). It can\’t withstand anything. Then we have the blue love which is the human likeness(Philo) , its the sexual love and lastly is the white love which is God\’s love, the unconditional love(agape)\”.
That unconditional love was best expressed by God. He is the best principal that understands the institution of marriage. If you understand God\’s love and thirst for it, it would help you love yourself and others. God put His love in us. He orchestrated marriage, so he knew we would thread that path (Genesis 2: 18, 24). Bringing it down to ourselves, how much do you love yourself?
How much do you celebrate yourself? If God is the first appearance of love, you have to build it in yourself too. If you don\’t love yourself, you can\’t take proper decision about life. You would make people treat you with disdain. You need to be you-tified and beautified. No one can be you- er than you are. No one can fit into your shoes. Until you realize this, you will keep allowing people toy with your heart. You need to LOVE YOUand APPRECIATE YOU. You are unique and special to God which is enough reasons for you to love yourself and let no one tamper with your hearts.
To be continued…………