During my teen years, the majority of my time outside school or home was spent with my youth group. And being a teenager in a 90s youth group meant I listened to the best band of all time, “DC Talk”. One of their best songs was “Luv Is A Verb”. I used to have the uncanny ability of memorizing the lyrics to any song I had heard more than once. However, just because I knew the words, didn’t mean I understood them. I could sing the entire song, but never stopped to think about what the words meant. Fast forward several years, I had graduated high school and college, and I had met this boy named John. We fell in love and started planning our lives together. As our relationship grew, I began to understand this song a little better. Love was not just a feeling I had. It wasn’t all butterflies, unicorns, and rainbows. It was a choice. There were days that this man drove me crazy. I didn’t feel like putting him before myself, I didn’t want to make him the priority. I wanted to be selfish and make everything about me, but I made a commitment to God and to John that I would love him and make him the most important person in my life (after God of course).
The Bible teaches us a few things about love:
In 1st Corinthians, Paul tells us that love is patient and kind. Love does not look to better yourself, but protect those that you love. Love will trust, hope and persevere .(1 Corinthians 13:4-8)
Love is not a word that we say or something we feel. You cannot fall out of love, or fall in love with someone else. Love is a decision you make, it is a choice, and that choice should bring about actions. You can tell someone you love them a million times, but if you’re actions don’t support that claim then it is meaningless. We show our love for others when we lay down our wants and needs to make their life easier and better. After 7 years of marriage, I still have to make the choice everyday to love my husband. I am so thankful that we have a God who does the same for us. He chooses to love us, no matter how many times we fail him and choose our own way above His perfect and better plan
“Words come easy but don’t mean much
When the words they’re sayin’ we can’t put trust in
We’re talkin’ ’bout love in a different light
And if we all learn to love it would be just right” – Luv Is A Verb