Been thinking about love. I have asked the Lord to help me out with this; with understanding this. I must confess that I just don't know what it really means to love, I mean, really love in the way Jesus commands us to love. If I claim to be a disciple of Christ I am found a liar if I do not love others in the way He loves me. Well, I am not sure I understand His love for me, I mean, I guess I do in a head knowledge kind of way.
During this time, I have also been thinking about values. What do I value? Why? How do my decisions and actions prove my values? I have discovered that though I may say I value something I don't really value it unless my valuing that thing or person or idea reveals itself in my actions; my being. There are lots of things I say I value: my family, art, my job, my students, the Bible, my church, missions, evangelism, giving to the poor, justice, discipleship. Well, I can honestly say that some of my values are real and they are lived out in my life. But others, well, they are just good ideas for me.
God in His wonderful way brought these things together for me this past week. Sy Rogers, a former homosexual came to speak at the chapel at the college where I teach. Part of his message was focused on love. He gave his definition for love by changing the word love to the word: value. "For God so valued the world that He sent His only Son..." He went on to discuss ways in which we show people we value them: acceptance: "I accept you just the way you are, I am not going to wait until you change or get better in order to accept you. You don't have to jump through any hoops for me to accept you." Accountability: "Because I accept you, I want you to get better, I want you to be all you were created to be. I will not settle for you staying in a bad place in your life." Affirmation: "I will continue to love you, seek to understand you."
Love and value go together, they intimately intertwined.
