I had the privilege of taking part in a “commissioning ceremony” for the son of a dear friend on his 18th birthday. I was asked to impart something on the topic of ‘Love.’ Here’s what I shared: 

The First and Second Great Commandments are: to love God, to love others. The world has a polite notion of love. It makes love into heart-shaped candies. It distorts love with shame and perversion. It manipulates love, using it to sell cars or politicians or beauty cream. The church has a more accurate, God-inspired, yet sometimes still-too-polite and slightly distorted notion of love. Yes, love is a choice, more than a feeling. We love, because He first loved. True, agape love is unselfish and unconditional, imagining and acting upon the highest and best for another person above yourself. All of these are true. But they are soft and incomplete.

Let me add two more truths drawn from my own experience, from the conviction of the Word, and what I know of the character of God. These are less discussed, less preached on, less understood, less “churchy,” but no less true. They are the masculine and strong. Now more than ever, among the highest and holiest facets of love, are war and sacrifice. READ MORE >>>