Define! Receive-Rejoice-Release!

DEFINE!
RECEIVE, REJOICE and RELEASE

It is not easy to define love in this world.  One would think love would be easy to define, but any attempt to explain love clearly is tough and often creates arguments.  Why is this?

The word love has become overused and abused at the same time real love is in short visible supply.  The only hope of love being properly defined in any of our lives is to receive love from God and define it  visibly by moment by moment  release of love.

We know we are being loved when over time someone releases the best they are and the best they have to us.  This is why mother's day is so celebrated!

We know we are loving others when we release the best we are and the best we have to someone else.  This is why true friendships are so valuable and so rare.

It is not necessary that every Christ follower should be able to verbally define love but it is necessary that they be a living definition of love.  For this reason every Christ follower should master the art of receiving, rejoicing and releasing or faith, hope and love.

Paul says in I Corinthians 13:13 that there remain three things in human experience.

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

Faith is the receiving for ourselves the love that God is releasing to us.  Hope is internal rejoicing because we are aware we are being loved by God.  Love is releasing toward God and others the best we are and the best we have.  This is the spiritual ecosystem God created mankind to enjoy and to be in this world. We exist to receive love, rejoice in love and release love.  The greatest of these is the release of love.

Jesus summed up man's part in this ecosystem with these words found in Matthew 22: 37-39

Jesus said to him,‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’

Jesus tells us we exist first to release the best we are the best we have to God.  Jesus tells us to release the best we are and the best we have to our neighbor. We know how to release love to others because we always give ourselves the best we are and the best we have.

Verbal definitions for love are hard to create and hard to communicate.  Disciples who know what it is to release love toward God and toward others like Jesus did are the true, daily, defining eloquence we need in the world. Release!

 

Bud McCord

Abide International