Real Love

Love is a wonderful thing.

It fills people with euphoria... gives hope... restores strength... provides security... can last a lifetime...

Yet so many people never experience true, lasting love. Most of us go through life experiencing short spans of love scattered over the years of our lives. This is mainly because true love takes a lot of work.

Real love calls for sacrifice... expects forgiveness... requires selflessness... and works best with compromise. Not too many people can maintain love's high call of duty. Giving love takes a consistent effort. It asks us to forget wrongs that we would rather remember. Love tells us to do for another what they sometimes won't do for us.

Yet we have the pleasure of knowing Jesus as our Lord and Savior; we know what it's like to get real love. We feel His loving hand guiding our every footstep through life. We see all of the amazing things that He does to keep us smiling. We experience His unconditional forgiveness each time we mess up.

The same real love we get from Christ, we should be pouring out to those around us. The same amazing love that overlooks our every sin should be pouring out of our hearts into the lives of someone else who may not know God. It's when we extend the true love that goes above and beyond that we cause others to want what we have.

So today - whether you have a Valentine or not - take some time to show somebody real love. Let the love you get from Jesus cause you to make someone else feel loved beyond measure. Give someone a great day just because they came across you.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Verse of the Day: Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7