How do you love?

A Billy Joel song came on the radio today. He was singing about how he would rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints. Does this make anyone’s heart sad? Through out the entire song he talks about the separation of the sinners and saints. The sinners have fun, know more than the “saints” and aren’t bound by rules and judgements. What do people see when they see us? Do people see our lives full of rules and judgements or do people see our lives full of Faith, Love, and Hope?

God did not make us robots. He designed us to make decisions. He set a standard to live by which we fail. However, God gave us the ongoing gift of grace which then produces faith, hope, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness and self control. In Corinthians it tells us that the greatest of all of these is LOVE. It is the most powerful and leaves the biggest impact. People won’t always remember the details of a situation but they will always remember the way we made them feel.

1 Corinthians 13: 1-3, explains it so well, “If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. ³ If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it;^[a] but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.”

Like a lot of things in this world, Love has been tainted into a twisted view of buying things, physical attraction and what others can do for us or make us feel. Love is how we treat people when we don’t necessarily feel they deserve it or if we like their personality, lifestyle or beliefs.  In 1 Corinthians 13:4, the new living translations reads that love does not demand its own way. I like that definition, It is the complete opposite definition that this world offers.

The worldly dictionary definition of love is vague and all about self:

1. a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.

2. a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection.

3. sexual passion or desire.

4. a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.

God’s Definition of love is descriptive, full of life and all about others:

1. patient2. Kindness

3. Its not jealous

4. It’s not pretentious

5. It is not rude.

5. It does not demand its own way. {Not selfish}

6. It is not irritable

6. It keeps no record of being wronged.

7. It does not celebrate or delight about injustice

8. It celebrates and seeks out truth

9. Never gives up

10. Never loses faith.

11. always hopeful

12. endures through every circumstance.

The ending line of the Billy Joel song talks about how the christian influence never cared for him but he questioned back: “Did she ever say a prayer for me”

I think love starts when the judging stops and the prayers begin.  I want to start seeing people through Christ’s eyes and using God’s definition of Love instead of a skewed vision of this jaded world.