First Love

February 14^th is a day set aside to celebrate love.

Florists, greeting card manufacturers and candy makers no doubt look forward to this day.

It’s important to remember that there are different kinds of love.

There is the kind of love shared between a husband and wife.

Another is the love a mother has for her child.

A third is the love we have for family.

These are just three examples of the different kinds of love there are and there are many more.

All these different kinds of love, and yet the English language has but the single word.

That’s unfortunate, as there are times when we misuse the word.

One example is when we might say something like, “I love chocolate ice cream”, or, “I love that television show”.

“Like” would be a better substitute in such cases.

The word “love” should be reserved for very special relationships with others.

Our love for our neighbor is one example.

Our love for God is another.

Jesus commanded us to love both.

Mark 12:30-31 (NET) - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

But no one said love would be easy.

Our neighbor might not choose to love us in return, but we must continue to love him or her anyway.

God, on the other hand, never ceases to love us.

He proved that when he sent His Son into the world to be the sacrifice for our sin.

Had God not loved us first, we would not be able to love at all.

1 John 4:19-21 (NET) - We love because he loved us first. If anyone says “I love God” and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too.

So, let’s show our love for God and others at every opportunity.

After all, love is too big to be confined to just one day of the year.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, February 22, 2019.

I’ll be back here on Friday, March 1, 2019