Many people when they think of love have dreams of sugar plums and fairies dancing through their heads. This is not the case with love. Many times, people get caught up in the fantasies of the good parts of love without embracing the realities of the other parts of love, the parts that hurt. You cannot have one without the other. If you are going to receive the good, you must also receive the bad that comes with love. This is not talked about enough but is proven out through scripture when the Bible (God) says that the love of many will grow cold {Matthew 24: 12}.
Has love grown cold because we don’t tell people the truth about what it really means to love from the core part of your being? Has love grown cold because we don’t tell people the truth that when you love, you are going to give until you have nothing left to give? Has love grown cold because we don’t inform people that when you love, there are going to be times when the individual or individuals you are loving will have no clue or even a care in the world that you are loving them? This is just some of what love really is.
When you love someone, you lay your life down for that person. This manifests itself in different ways through different relationships. In godly families, the parents lay their lives down for their children. The children have no clue that this is even going on. In godly friendships, one friend lays their life down for another. In military relationships, one soldier encounters an obstacle that takes their life while out on patrol and loses their life. The other soldiers have no understanding of what the soldier who died gave to them to save them. You could have a loved one who is going through a prolonged battle with their health, in the midst of trying to render comfort and aid to that loved one, the life of the one who is not battling for their health is being laid down for the one who is. Love hurts.
The hurting part about love is not a bad thing. What’s bad is when someone who is doing the loving encounters this part of love and does not understand that this comes with love. This hurt from love can take the breath from your lungs, the motivation from your drive, and the up out of your giddy. This is the price for love. It’s not all fun and games. It’s sleepless nights. It’s heartache and heartbreak that for some goes on for years. Have you given care for someone? You are laying down your life for that person. This is not about them thanking you or showing you appreciation. This is about the blood and guts of love. This is about walking love out all the way until the end.
If you have loved, you understand exactly what I am saying to you. There are hard choices that are made day in and day out. There are decisions that get made for you, often times they are made without warning or notification but because you understand love you continue to move forward on the path of love. When you love, you are willing to be hurt on any level in order to protect that love, to keep that love, and to show that love to the one you are loving. The difficulty that comes with love is something that is not easily expressed. At times you will find yourself having a lack of words. This doesn’t mean that anything is wrong with you. You are just in the throes of love. You are walking towards your death. Love is where you end and God begins in you. This is what love really is all about.
This is what should be talked about when you talk about love. Love is not an emotion. It’s an act of being. You act out of what is in your heart for the ones that you love. The same way that Jesus acted out for us. He came, He laid His life down, and He died. Love hurted for Jesus. Think about this. Don’t just brush over what was said. Love hurted for Jesus. This hurt that Jesus went through had nothing to do with the physical hurt that Jesus encountered while traveling to the cross. This hurt had everything to do with the Spiritual hurt that occurred from the rejection from His father, the rejection by His people, and the rejection that Jesus encountered from you and me. Jesus did not get to escape that hurt. He had to walk through it. He had to face it. If you love, you will need to face it as well. The hurt You will never accomplish anything for Christ unless you get this into your Spirit man and then live. If you love, you will hurt.
“I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, do not stir up nor awaken love, until it pleases.” Song of Solomon 8: 4 {NKJV}
King Solomon spoke these words of wisdom to the daughters of Jerusalem. These words are not just for those who are engaged in romantic love, but these words are also for those who seek love on every other level possible. If you are not prepared to walk in the full weight and responsibility that comes with love, then you should refrain from engaging in love in any form. Love will crush you and break you in ways that if you have not experienced it for yourself, you will not have an inkling of understanding what I am saying to you. Love hurts.
God has given us the freedom of choice. Choice is a gift that we do not understand. We can reject loving? We can turn away from love or refuse to choose love. Think about this. While we are still trying to decide to love, God still loves us. God hurts because He is love and He cannot be what He is not. ““I AM WHO I AM.” {Exodus 3: 14 (NKJV)}
