Love…
Such a simple word in English,
made complicated by the fact
that it can mean and refer to so many things.
It’s often cheapened
by reducing it to something resembling selfish pleasure…
It often generates cynicism
among those who gave their hearts to someone or something,
and were crushed by the experience…
It creates confusion
because the same word can be used for
Readers Digest,
Mom’s lasagna,
old movies,
and your newborn infant.
Yet even in the face of the frustration of finding the right way to express ourselves,
I still believe in the promise and the reality of a Perfect Love…
A Father-birthed,
Son-delivered,
Spirit-borne love that gives
completely,
totally,
unconditionally.
And this Perfect Love is part of your birthright;
it’s been poured – flooded – into the heart of every believer.
Perfect Love is a ministry of presence.
It always has a way of showing up,
consistently and faithfully,
when we need it the most.
It attends to the big things
and little things
that make our lives wonderfully and frustratingly human.
Perfect Love greets each new day with delight and optimism.
Never hindered by sleepless nights
or yesterday’s failures,
it welcomes the rich potential of every sunrise.
Perfect Love understands the soft language of quietness.
Whether it’s a whispered prayer,
a secret fear,
or a heart full of gratitude,
it has a way of entering into our unspoken worlds
with understanding and awareness.
Perfect Love discovers moments of profound blessing, sometimes in the most ordinary of experiences.
It has a way of sharing our sources of pain or mourning,
and turning them into moments of rediscovered joy.
Perfect Love shows up faithfully at every turn, regardless of the circumstances.
It seeks the lost with utter abandon,
greets the found shameless celebration,
and guards the heart like the hosts of heaven.
Perfect Love attends to the most obvious and the most subtle of needs.
It breathes deeply of every moment,
watching for needs and rising to serve,
regardless of convenience or status.
Perfect Love pierces the darkness with penetrating light.
It confronts sin with purity,
confusion with clarity,
loneliness with harmony,
and evil with authority.
Perfect Love rises above the noise of the fickle crowd.
It has a way of seeing through the vanities
and sensing even the slightest act of faith in a sea of unbelief.
Perfect Love has a way of attracting likeminded hearts like gravity.
It draws and delights those with nothing to prove,
no one to impress,
or nothing beyond ourselves to offer.
Perfect Love burns with passion –
not to get, but to give…
not to consume, but to be consumed by the object of its service.
willingly,
completely,
shamelessly for a friend.
What makes Perfect Love perfect is the One doing the loving…
And the completeness with which He gave…
to forgive your debt absolutely,
fill your heart abundantly,
and enflame your passion vehemently
for a world still crying out to know what love truly is.