Is It Real?
Hearts and Flowers = Love
Arrows = Love
Love: it’s a word we hear so often that it has become common.
We hear it in ads, such as the mouthwash commercial jingle that sings, “Love your mouth!” Hollywood names sitcoms with the word, presenting “I Love Lucy” and “Everybody Loves Raymond!” We use the word in politics, proclaiming to the unpatriotic, “Love it or leave it!”
Oddly enough, a heart shape is used to represent love. Being an emotion, it’s a wonder that we could choose a shape to represent it at all! I mean, shall we use a triangle to represent joy or a rectangle to represent depression? Actually, I suppose the squished oval, made popular by anti-depression medication, should be used for that!
One might well wonder why this shape that looks like the conjoining of two ears should represent such a deep emotion. Chosen in the early 1800s, it is strange that one shape could represent something so complex…an emotion, a passion, a fervor even.
We take the symbol for granted but why was it chosen? To find out, keep reading….
The word “heart” has been used since Biblical times to represent the deep desires of love, but why not use emblems that appear as real, human hearts do?
Often, we don’t choose the most sensible interpretations apparently.
The fact is, if we were to choose a symbol for love today that is much more Biblical…we might choose an arrow.
To understand why, let’s take a look at Love …Just what do we know about love anyway?
Often, our definition of love is governed by the culture we live in.
When the word if mentioned, our thoughts may immediately turn to Valentine’s Day and a box of chocolates…or a family gathered happily around a Thanksgiving turkey…or a shaky young man on one knee.
All of these ideas are good and are elements or expressions of love…but they do not wholly embody Love!
You see, love can also be jealous, angry, powerful, and protective!
I John 4:8 says that “God is love.” Therefore, all that God is…is love!
My Question….How then can people have loving relationships without God in the midst of them?
Look at the divorce rate. Well over 50% of first marriages and an even higher percentage of second marriages end in divorce. We live in a nation that scorns God and religious faith, saying it is not intellectual enough. The media, including even cartoons, mock moral principles like love, responsibility, and faithfulness. Instead of viewing love as enduring, all-encompassing, and conquering all, we have been trained by our modern culture that it is fleeting and sensual instead—a product of the eyes rather than the heart.
There are three key problems I see with our view of love today:
1. We have been handed limited, often incorrect definitions of love and its true forms of expression.
There are three key problems I see with our view of love today:
1. We have been handed limited, often incorrect definitions of love and its true forms of expression.
We think a tempestuous one-night stand in a film is a sign of love when it is the man who stands by his wife as she wastes away from cancer that shows true love. It’s not as glossy as Hollywood’s portrayal.
* This view has been largely created by the constraints of Hollywood film-making, whose plots must begin and end within a 2-3 hour window.
* In these portrayals, we cannot see the daily building of relationship. Instead, it appears quick and easy…easy come, easy go. But real love takes years to build.
* In keeping with the medium of film, love has become very visual for us. We portray love as things and actions we can measure rather than in the slow building of trust and confidence toward one another.
2. Our version of love today often does not involve God.
How can a love sparked in the backseat of a car without the commitments set up by God involve Him?
* How can a marriage that began as an adulterous affair that hurt a former wife adopt God’s faithfulness?
* How can a dating relationship that engages in fornication incorporate a God who is pure and advocates that a man should not touch a woman outside of marriage?
3. Our ideas of love have become completely symbolic. There is no substance at all.
* This view has been largely created by the constraints of Hollywood film-making, whose plots must begin and end within a 2-3 hour window.
* In these portrayals, we cannot see the daily building of relationship. Instead, it appears quick and easy…easy come, easy go. But real love takes years to build.
* In keeping with the medium of film, love has become very visual for us. We portray love as things and actions we can measure rather than in the slow building of trust and confidence toward one another.
2. Our version of love today often does not involve God.
How can a love sparked in the backseat of a car without the commitments set up by God involve Him?
* How can a marriage that began as an adulterous affair that hurt a former wife adopt God’s faithfulness?
* How can a dating relationship that engages in fornication incorporate a God who is pure and advocates that a man should not touch a woman outside of marriage?
3. Our ideas of love have become completely symbolic. There is no substance at all.
* Because we no longer have God involved in our relationships because the very nature of these relationships defies godly principles, we have settled for the counterfeit.
* Notice, however, that the symbols our society embraces are no more sound or substantial than those used in less advanced nations.
*** One nation in Africa advocates that a woman should paint her teeth black when in love.
***Our nation believes that sliding a shiny rock onto the third finger of the left hand means love. Why? The man did not mine it out of the ground himself, nor cut it, nor form it! I’m not saying I don’t love my wedding ring, but …
If that trinket is the only proof you have that your husband loves you, something is wrong.
Expensive gifts, talking on the phone for hours, premarital sex, or even sexual experimentation within marriage are not signs of love…and it’s time we realized that.
So What Is A Biblical Measurement of Love?
I mentioned earlier that an arrow would more adequately symbolize love than the heart shape.
Why?
According to Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Furthermore, scripture tells us that only God knows the heart in its secrets. Instead of leaning on our hearts to tell us what to do, let us rely on the true ensample of love we find in God.
Loving With the Love Born of God
We must rethink and ultimately relearn what love is if we want relationships with friends, family, and spouses to be genuine.
The love of God is like an arrow: Psalms 127:3-5 states, “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”
What is a child? It is an arrow to a mighty warrior. An arrow is an instrument of warfare.
Without the arrow, the warrior of David’s day had no job, no calling, no strength, no purpose.
Now, simply follow along with me. A son is an arrow.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
God took His begotten son--the earthly vessel infilled with His Spirit—the one early man who embodied divine life—and offered Him a ransom for us.
Not many but one perfect arrow…for us He was spent.
Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think Jesus was thinking about our good traits as he hung dying on the cross; Romans 5:8 says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
He looked at the ugliest faults we have and still endured the torment.
Now, me…I’m still not like Jesus. Once the crowd began to jeer and spit in his face; when the soldiers beat him with a cat of nine tails, ripping the flesh from the bone; as the flesh began to cry out as sweat stung his open wounds; I would have cried out “Stop!”
If I could have looked ahead in time as he could, and seen the millions of times even Holy Ghost-filled people would shun Him from day to day, I would have angrily stopped it all!
But He didn’t stop the sacrifice…
God loved us through all of the pain and suffering, paying the ultimate sacrifice for mankind, giving His only arrow.
We are often so de-sensitized to the cross because it’s a story we’ve heard over and over again. In fact, the gory graphics of film now has a much greater effect on us than a bleeding savior.
But the cross was not pretty, nor was it easy. Do we think He just turned off the pain?
No, He suffered pain, contortions of His body, spasms…and shame. Embarrassment engulfed his human side as His bowels could no longer hold up in front of the masses. It was not a peaceful, golden cross; it was horrific and tragic.
That’s how he “knows the feelings of our infirmities.” He has been there: broken, bruised, hurting physically and emotionally, shamed, embarrassed, alone…
Love Is:
* Notice, however, that the symbols our society embraces are no more sound or substantial than those used in less advanced nations.
*** One nation in Africa advocates that a woman should paint her teeth black when in love.
***Our nation believes that sliding a shiny rock onto the third finger of the left hand means love. Why? The man did not mine it out of the ground himself, nor cut it, nor form it! I’m not saying I don’t love my wedding ring, but …
If that trinket is the only proof you have that your husband loves you, something is wrong.
Expensive gifts, talking on the phone for hours, premarital sex, or even sexual experimentation within marriage are not signs of love…and it’s time we realized that.
So What Is A Biblical Measurement of Love?
I mentioned earlier that an arrow would more adequately symbolize love than the heart shape.
Why?
According to Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
Furthermore, scripture tells us that only God knows the heart in its secrets. Instead of leaning on our hearts to tell us what to do, let us rely on the true ensample of love we find in God.
Loving With the Love Born of God
We must rethink and ultimately relearn what love is if we want relationships with friends, family, and spouses to be genuine.
The love of God is like an arrow: Psalms 127:3-5 states, “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.”
What is a child? It is an arrow to a mighty warrior. An arrow is an instrument of warfare.
Without the arrow, the warrior of David’s day had no job, no calling, no strength, no purpose.
Now, simply follow along with me. A son is an arrow.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
God took His begotten son--the earthly vessel infilled with His Spirit—the one early man who embodied divine life—and offered Him a ransom for us.
Not many but one perfect arrow…for us He was spent.
Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think Jesus was thinking about our good traits as he hung dying on the cross; Romans 5:8 says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
He looked at the ugliest faults we have and still endured the torment.
Now, me…I’m still not like Jesus. Once the crowd began to jeer and spit in his face; when the soldiers beat him with a cat of nine tails, ripping the flesh from the bone; as the flesh began to cry out as sweat stung his open wounds; I would have cried out “Stop!”
If I could have looked ahead in time as he could, and seen the millions of times even Holy Ghost-filled people would shun Him from day to day, I would have angrily stopped it all!
But He didn’t stop the sacrifice…
God loved us through all of the pain and suffering, paying the ultimate sacrifice for mankind, giving His only arrow.
We are often so de-sensitized to the cross because it’s a story we’ve heard over and over again. In fact, the gory graphics of film now has a much greater effect on us than a bleeding savior.
But the cross was not pretty, nor was it easy. Do we think He just turned off the pain?
No, He suffered pain, contortions of His body, spasms…and shame. Embarrassment engulfed his human side as His bowels could no longer hold up in front of the masses. It was not a peaceful, golden cross; it was horrific and tragic.
That’s how he “knows the feelings of our infirmities.” He has been there: broken, bruised, hurting physically and emotionally, shamed, embarrassed, alone…
Love Is:
* Suffering despite what those you love do, whether they are faithful or not. We are so quick to throw in the towel.
* The Biblical account of Hosea and the harlot he married is very similar to the plight of Jesus. Hosea married a woman who became a harlot, cheating on him and eventually being sold into slavery. Hosea, upon finding her again, forgave the embarrassment she had caused and purchased her from the auction block to free her. His love surpassed the pain, the betrayal, and the heartbreak.
Christ, despite the many times we’ve failed Him, died for us and offers us life everlasting. That’s real love.
If we want our relationships to work, we must catch hold of this true Biblical kind of love.
Please note that the marriages that end in divorce—over 50%--are seldom quicky Vegas marriages! They are people who once truly loved one another, but because their perception of love was distorted and their expectations of the excitement and grandeur were confounded, they felt betrayed by love.
Our perception o f love is incomplete. That’s why scripture says “they shall know ye are my disciples by your love one for another.” It’s not the fact that you do love—even though that’s important—but it is a kind of love that stands out.
How do I know this? Because scriptures says that even “the world loveth its own.” To stand out, our love must be different….longsuffering, self-sacrificing.
Why? Why must love be longsuffering rather than self-protecting?
The function of love, according to scripture, is to “cast out all fear.”
Marriages and friendships today have one common denominator….fear.
* Fear of one’s love not being accepted or respected.
* Fear of not getting the same in return.
* Fear of trusting and being betrayed.
* Fear of failing to please the other person.
Love and fear do not ride together.
God said, “I have not give you a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.”
Love is….power, confidence, assurance, knowing that if you mess up, you will still be wanted.
Love is….a sound mind, not being afraid, not fretting, not double-checking or second-guessing yourself, not trying to outwit the one you love so you keep yourself from harm.
Love is….peace that surpasseth all understanding…even for those who do not merit it.
Psalms 139:16-18 “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.”
Christ, despite the many times we’ve failed Him, died for us and offers us life everlasting. That’s real love.
If we want our relationships to work, we must catch hold of this true Biblical kind of love.
Please note that the marriages that end in divorce—over 50%--are seldom quicky Vegas marriages! They are people who once truly loved one another, but because their perception of love was distorted and their expectations of the excitement and grandeur were confounded, they felt betrayed by love.
Our perception o f love is incomplete. That’s why scripture says “they shall know ye are my disciples by your love one for another.” It’s not the fact that you do love—even though that’s important—but it is a kind of love that stands out.
How do I know this? Because scriptures says that even “the world loveth its own.” To stand out, our love must be different….longsuffering, self-sacrificing.
Why? Why must love be longsuffering rather than self-protecting?
The function of love, according to scripture, is to “cast out all fear.”
Marriages and friendships today have one common denominator….fear.
* Fear of one’s love not being accepted or respected.
* Fear of not getting the same in return.
* Fear of trusting and being betrayed.
* Fear of failing to please the other person.
Love and fear do not ride together.
God said, “I have not give you a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind.”
Love is….power, confidence, assurance, knowing that if you mess up, you will still be wanted.
Love is….a sound mind, not being afraid, not fretting, not double-checking or second-guessing yourself, not trying to outwit the one you love so you keep yourself from harm.
Love is….peace that surpasseth all understanding…even for those who do not merit it.
Psalms 139:16-18 “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.”
Jeremiah 29:11-14 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.”
Today, our prayer should be:
* God, change our ideas to fit Godly principles though the society we live in defies and denies your Truth.
* Teach us your Truth in all your ways, even in how we love, that our loving be genuine and not in vain.
* Let our light shine in this present world as scripture says, “We will be known by our love one for another.”
* Let us not “love in word” but rather let us love “in deed.”
