Love.

I had written this after a night at my church when they had shown "The Passion of the Christ" for our Youth meeting. Amidst the tears and weeping from every direction in the room, all my mind could conceive was the fact that this man must love me so much more than I can fathom to go through all of that for me.

For me? I mean, I can hardly make it through one day with the kind of love that man had in his eyes. And it was his whole existence. The part in the film where he prays for the people who basically hung him on the cross (the Pharisees)...it blew my mind. I mean, I've known this story my whole life, but it's like it hit a new level inside of me this time. I was fully aware of my own shortcomings in that moment, and fully aware that I needed to work on my love. I mean, Jesus told me to love my enemies and pray for those who PERSECUTE me (Matthew 5:44)...Oh my gosh...I can't even love people who aren't persecuting me at times.

What kind of love is this that he has for me? I mean, I know God is love. Because that's what the Bible says. It's just more than my mind can comprehend though. My pastor was in Africa with a minister once, and they were asking this minister, "How do you love like you do? I want that "download" from Heaven like you have!" And the minister just (I'm sure her eyes gushing with love!) just stated, "It's not a download, it's a choice. And once you make that choice enough times, it just becomes your automatic response."

Love is a choice. I can choose to love even when I don't want to. I can choose to love people who have hurt me. I can choose to love people who are unjust towards me. I can choose to love when I am hated. I can choose to love a n y o n e. It's a choice.

If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

God is love. If we don't have Him, we have n o t h i n g.