Yes....love is certainly in the air. Just today, the day before February 14, I listened to a man order one rose for every year he and his beloved dated AND one rose for every year that they were married. It came to nineteen roses! That is a lot of roses! That's a lot of money! I suppose his wife, and most women, would think that all those roses and money would be very romantic. Men like that make me look bad....real bad.
Falling in love is easy. It involves butterflies and long walks on moonlit nights. You hear wedding bells, you can't sleep, and you fall into something that seems so perfect. Staying in love, however, is not so easy. Responsibilities and obligations wear away the initial shine of new love. Things change, emotions are frayed, and tempers are revealed. There are bad moments, bad days, bad decisions, and bad feelings. Sometimes staying in love feels impossible, and our culture gives us every seemingly logical reason to leave that love behind to find new love again. We start believing the culture and before long we wonder how we could ever feel so distant from someone we once felt so close to.
What if staying in love is possible? What if real love starts when we get real about staying in love? What if we take seriously the very words of God through the Apostle Paul: husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church and wives should submit to and respect her husband (Ephesians 5:22-33)?
To do what Paul says makes love a verb rather than a noun. In our day love is a noun. It is an experience. A moment. A thing. But Ephesians 5:22-33 tells us that love is a verb. It is not a one time event. It is not only roses, giddy feelings, and butterflies. Love is sacrifice, self-denial, and self-control. It is a verb. It's about doing, committing, and persevering. It's about making the other a greater priority than yourself. Again, the Apostle Paul said it better; "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others" (Philippians 2:4). Finally, the words of Paul to the Corinthians also describes love as a verb: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful....love bears all things..." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
Loosely translated, all this means that it is possible to stay in love, but it takes more than flowers and cards. Falling in love only requires a pulse. Staying in love requires faith and obedience.
Great Pastor and so true!!!
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