Love in Action


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"Nothing is more costly then Love. Except for not Loving"
Anon

"If you have never Loved, you have never Lived"
MJ Flack

"Love is a language that can
not be contained or
restricted by mere Words"
MJ Flack

"To Love, without Fear of Loss or Pain, is not to have
Loved Completely"
MJ Flack

"Love is a Mirror that reflects back to the Lover an
image of their Soul"
MJ Flack



Scriptural Reference:
John 3:16
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.

John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.


Romans 13:10
Love does no harm to its neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.

1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Ephesians
4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

1 John 4:8
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Romans 12:9
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.

Reflection:
When we stop to ponder the strength and power of love, the first thing we can do is to look at the greatest love of all. As found in John 3:16. Where we learn of Gods love for his creation. A pouring out of love so powerful and so final in the way it is expressed. To sacrifice his only Son to act as the Perfect Sin Atonement for the whole World.

The second lesson in love that we learn comes from John 15:13. In which we are called to both embrace and emulate the divine Grace and Love of God. How many people can you count that you would rush to save, at the peril of your own life? How many strangers would you be adding into this list? People you don't know. Then to take it one step further. How many people you find difficult and painful would you do the same? Perhaps the list is primarily made up of those people who love us as much as we love them. What does this really say about our inner emotional conflicts.

When Jesus was being tested as to his teachings, the Orthodox Jews pointed constantly to the Laws of Mosses. Jesus knew what they were doing. He understood the replacement of real tangible love with a strict set of laws and rituals. He also knew that they, like us today, need to return to the core principle of the Law of Love. Therefore it is the "Fulfilment of the law">

There are many aspects of love that are both good and bad. But for those who seemingly think that "all love" is good. Let's take a little side step and see what is considered "bad love".

When love is used as a Tool and not a Gift. So many people find themselves in what has come to be called a Co Dependent Relationship. Where one person has emotional and physical control over another. Making it impossible to grow and mature freely as an adult and an individual. The person who has control is in their way expressing their own concept of love. They may not even understand the damage they are inflicting. While the person being controlled is under a misguided concept that by giving in they are showing love through obedience In the end this relationship will fall apart. The victim will never mature. As for the one on control, over time they will tire of the relationship and start looking for a new challenge.

When love is Myopically Focused. There are those who will love their family. Yet at the very cost of the whole family, they will become fixated and love just one person above others. My personal experience with this was my Mothers love for my Brother. Who in her eyes could do no wrong. All others in the family came a weak second. Her fixation of her love became a dividing wedge that caused rifts between my brother and the rest of the family. Rifts that even today, well after their deaths, still has an ongoing pain of its own. This love may have started with a pure compassionate need to care and protect the recipient. But over time has become poisonous and toxic to everyone.

When Love is of the Ego. There are those who will say we are to place our love for God above all other loves. Even that of family. So how is your relationship with God? Is he the top of your list of your Love List? Or is he somewhere near the middle? The danger is to start placing our family, who have been entrusted to us by God, as first priority. Then to place our love for our career, sport or a range of interest next. Then of course there is the hidden love of oneself and abilities. Slowly the position for love of God drops down the list. Still considered important. But not immediate. What would we achieve if we could have all the things we consider important to love at the cost of our relationship with God?

God is expressed in many ways through the Bible. We are given many valuable insights into the nature of God. The strongest of these is that God is Love. Simple as that. He created the World and all of us. Out of love he did this. Out of love he continued to work towards reconciliation with mankind. Out of love he sent his only Son to take our place on the cross of our souls. Yes, it is an amazingly easy form of understanding the nature of God as the nature of Real Love.

In closing we have considered briefly what Love is and what Love should not be. Our deepest call and desire is to emulate the love of Jesus. To cling to what is good, what is pure, what is right and what is of God.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus,

Love is not a language that we are born with.
The words are painful to learn and express.
The fear of loss and hurt make us weary to speak.
And yet it is through your pure love that we exist.

Make my heart an instrument of you love.
My words the melody of your saving Grace.
My actions the expression of you healing power.
My life an extension of your Gospel of hope.

Love through me the World.

Amen