“God is Love, U Get It?”

A close friend of mine recently told me…

“Without understanding God’s love and loving Him, it’s tough to love others made in His image; let alone ourselves… Love, starts with God.”

People often ask me, “Why don’t you write more relationship topics, like the juicy stuff?” and such and such. I’m still young, I have much more to experience, (I can physically pass as a 17 year old, for goodness sake!)

I can’t write about the pros and cons of relationships, nor do I feel that I can give advice, publicly. I can only write about my experiences and lessons I may have learned. Which may ultimately bore you. And really… come, on, we want to keep our business on the hush, hush, and out of the press, right? But since I’ve become single, I’ve gotten an opportunity to ponder on the topic of “LOVE”. Backwards, huh? I wish to share with you what I’ve discovered that may put a lot of situations into perspective with you; and your idea on love as a whole.

Dictionary.com defines “love” as – a profoundly tender, passionate affection, as for parent, child, or friend; sexual passion, or desire.

Cool, duly noted dictionary.com. For a while, my thought process came from the thought of being “in love”. So, what is the TRUE meaning of love or being “in love”?

To me, love was just a strong emotional feeling towards someone, or some thing.

• “ Oh my gosh, I love my iPhone!”
• “ Oh my gosh, I love my Blackberry!”
• “I love you too girl!”
• “Good night, I love you.”

Simple. And then sometimes we may tend to just throw around the word “love” without even thinking twice. We see it all the time on social networks; twitter, facebook… It’s pretty much seen and heard everywhere. But do you really sit there and think, “Do I really love this person?”

After my chit chat with my friend on last night, I looked at the word, “love” on a whole new level.

I shared with him a little background story which led to me asking, “What’s your thought on love?” He replied,

“God is love. U get it?”

I understood the statement, but wanted further explanation on his answer.

He then proposed the question: “What are the two greatest commandments?”

I will be honest, I pondered for a second or two… but I eventually answered.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)

In reference to the 10 commandments, the first 3 commandments teach us how to love God. The last 7, teach us how to love each other.

How can you love someone, without first, loving God? Now, I’m not saying that I do not love God. I’m a Christian, I am saved. I DO LOVE my Savior. Loving Him FIRST means to be totally committed to Him, above your own desires; you don’t worry bout pain or hurt, nothing. Your focus is on Him. I never looked at it in such a way in which I focused totally on Him when factoring in “love” towards a significant other. You have to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, & strength FIRST, in order to love others (and ourselves), created in His image. Many of us express our love for God in all kinds of settings, specifically on Sundays, right? But is that enough? Is it just by our lips, or also with our hearts? ← This, I will do from here on out.

And with ourselves; I’ll often see such tweets, “You gotta love yourself first” or “I have to start loving myself more”. It’s a process, it goes in order. First, love God. Then, yourself and others.

Think about the scripture from 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8;

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, aways hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails”.

Could we replace the word “love” with God?

God is the absolute example of true love. God should be your #1 priority when it comes to love. Once you genuinely love Him first, you can then go about loving others. Totally commit to Him —–> to totally committing to others. Many know me and know that I’m the daughter of a preacher man, philosophy & theology professor, and I’ve heard this over and over again thanks to my successful father. But certain circumstances and situations put you in a particular thought process, at a particular time. This topic for me, came at the right time. I hope that this helps you as much as it has helped me.

Thank you again my good friend, Moriah Johnson.

(*disclaimer: this article is not trying to question your love for God or for others in any way. Just giving my readers something to think about as love relates to the two greatest commandments!)