Letting Go of a Love

This past Sunday at church, the preacher preached from the title, "I Use to Love Her."

He spoke about how before we come to know Christ, we are in love with "her," meaning the "world."  Well, that is indeed true and I would even dare say that that love affair for some is still going on, or is revisited every now and again.

Let's be real, letting go of a love, whether of worldly things or not is sometimes hard to do.

I find myself thinking about the love relationship I have going on right now, with whom or what is really not the issue.  Because, when a love starts to hurt you, or  you have allowed it to hurt you for far too long, then it becomes a problem.

It's about having known this person, this "thing;" being used to something that has been in your life for so long, that it is difficult to see your life without him, her, or it.  The song says, "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" and that is no lie!

But where is God in all of this?  1 John 4:8 says, "Whoever does not love, does not know God because God is love." So we are to love, or at least try to love as God, the author of love, loves-unconditionally.  And it's okay to love: people, your church, a good book, as long as these things do not interfere with your relationship with God!  God ALWAYS comes first!  Why?

• Because people can and do leave
• Because people are in churches, churches can be dysfunctional
• And no person or object can call themselves your Creator!

So, if loving someone or something no longer looks like the love God intended for us to share, it's time to learn to love from a distance!  We don't like to hear that, I know.  We are comfortable (to an extent), we are complacent and change is difficult; and how many of us sometimes feel like we give love much more than we actually receive it?  But again, we come back to loving as God would have us to do; unconditionally.

Sometimes, after much fasting and prayer, the difficult decision has to be made: am I receiving love or am I use to the abuse when so called "love" hurts?  

There are no easy answers, but one thing I know for sure, the change one wants to see, has to begin in the individual.  Inaction does not produce action.  One has to make a move!

Blessings...