Love is a Choice not Just a Feeling

Our society maintains that love is some kind of overly excited deep affection that just happens when it is the right person. Their is this implication that there is nothing you can really do about it.

The fact of the matter is that to some extent this is true. You can not choose who is to be the love of your life, that is God's job. However, love is a choice. You must take the time to do those things that express to the other person your love. You must work at the relationship and in so doing you must continue to work on who you are in Christ Jesus.

This is same principle is true of the love within a community of believers. Philippians 2:2 speaks about being of one mind and purpose. It also tells us that part of continue on towards this purpose is by maintaining our love (agape) for each other. The implication here is that we must chose to love others in our church. It is a 2 way street in that we can not simply sit back try to blend in or avoid getting noticed. That is not how we maintain the love with one another. Verses 3 and 4 go on to tell us some ways in which we can help grow the love between us. It all boils down to not worrying about our desires and our wants and focusing on Christ and others. If we all as a community of believers would do this then each of our needs would be meet. That is the way it works in marriage as well. When both spouses focus on the other person then the needs of both will be satisfied.

This is not always an easy task. It is not always easy to get over past hurts and pains. It is not easy to move beyond the superficial and the vain. It is not always easy to trust others enough to let them know your deepest needs. It is not always easy to be so vulnerable. Yet when one of of us fails to do this we weaken the body of Christ. We weaken the unity that we have been called to. When this unity is weakened then our ability to fulfill God's plan is also damaged.

So the question before you and I today is...Are we weakening or strengthening the body of Christ?