"I LOVE YOU"
Posted by: spiritualdigest <spiritualdigest@...>
"I LOVE YOU"
"Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil;
cling to what is good" (Romans 12:9, NASB).
I have already composed the message for this week, in
fact I have translated it into Esperanto language and
was about to send the translation to the person that
always help me to edit it. However, as people are
celebrating the Valentine's Day, I am led to keep that
message till another week and write another one on
love.
The sentence "I love you" is common among people,
especially people of opposite sex, either married or
single. The sentence is so common that most people have
lost or misinterpreted the real meaning of the most
important word in it - love. To some, "I love you,"
means I want to get something from you. To others, love
is the glorified word for lust. The intention of "I
love you" of others is to gratify their selfish desire.
No wonder, love has become one of the most common words
in any language.
What does love means to you? How are you demonstrating
it? Do you really mean it when you tell somebody, "I
love you"? Paul described what love is and it is not in
1 Corinthians 13:4-8, "Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not
easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does
not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always
perseveres. Love never fails" (NIV). So it means that
when I say "I love you," what I am saying in essence is
that: I will be patient with you; I will be kind with
you; I will not envy you; I will not elevate myself
higher than you; I will not be self-centered; I will
not be easily provoked by you; I will keep no record of
any wrong you do to me; I will not have hidden agenda
against you; I will be truthful to you; I will protect
you; I will trust you; I will have hope in you; I will
persevere with you; and my love is not temporary. Anything
short of these is hypocrisy.
The love between Jonathan and David is a good example
of a love without hypocrisy. Jonathan demonstrated all
those attributes of love described above to David (see
1 Samuel 18:3-4; 20:1-42; 23:18).
I love you. Do I?
In His service,
Bayo Afolaranmi (Pastor).
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