Love

Yesterday was Valentine's Day, or Dia de Amor here in Honduras. Ashley and I enjoyed a night out at a sushi restaurant. We decided it would be fun and worth it for us to go to a special place and spend a little more money on this special occasion (Yes, missionaries are allowed to do this too.). It was a great evening. We loved the food and our conversation was even better. We were able to spend a few hours (it takes awhile to make sushi) talking about how things are going and our relationship and stuff like that. It was a really fun time for us!

Is this what love is? I think it is certainly part of what love is. The Bible says that love is a lot more than a special day where flowers and chocolates and teddy bears cost three times as much as every other day (the commercialism of Valentine's Day is alive and well in Honduras too...).

Do I outdo others in showing honor? Do I bless those who curse me? Do I never avenge myself? Do I feed my enemy or give him a drink? Do I do no wrong to my neighbor? Am I humble?

Unfortunately, the answer to all of those questions is a resounding NO. In other words, I fail miserably at loving my neighbor. Heck, I fail miserably at loving my wife who is the most important person on this earth to me. Paul says in Romans that loving your neighbor fulfills the law. So, I fail miserably at fulfilling the law.

It sure is a good thing that my eternal life has nothing to do with fulfilling the law. Well, it doesn't have anything to do with my fulfilling the law because it has already been fulfilled for me by Jesus Christ! I do not have to be good at all those things above in order to be loved by the Creator of the universe. However, I have a desire to to do those things because of what Jesus did for me. He humbled Himself as God in order to become man, then He humbled himself as a man to die for others - for me. I hope that I (and you too) do not forget what Jesus did for me and how He SO loved me.

Today is not Valentine's Day, but today is a day to love. Today is a day to show my wife I love her (maybe not with sushi). Today is a day to show others honor and to bless those who curse me and to feed my enemy and to be humble. Why? Because Jesus did all those things for me even though I did not deserve any of them.