It's that time of year...
Yes, the month of February. Love is in the air, or well... a greeting card holiday is around the corner?
Anyway, Crossroad has kicked into its 4-week study on Love, Dating, Marriage, and Sex. Tonight's topic was love. Somehow, Greg has a way of just cutting right to me, or basically pointing out what I already know to be true. Follows is an EXTREMELY brief summary and my inward reflection.
Why did God create romantic love? Like everything, for the expression of His glory. The romantic feelings we have for one another are a gift and should be treasured, but like anything on earth, this gift can be perverted by sin and our own lustful desires. I'd say what cut to me the most was the way we elevate love. You simply can't put love before God. The same response will follow were we to put sex, money, power, or whatever else there. By elevating love, it can become the most prominent source of discontent and disappointment in our lives. For a while now, I've felt like God's been protecting me from my own emotions (haha, sad but true). I tend to get to emotionally involved too quickly; basically, I'm ruled by my emotions. My emotional life seems to be the most prominent area that I refuse to give up. I mean, I want to, or at least I want to WANT to, but I just don't seem to be able to give it up. Every time I think that I begin to make some headway, I just fall back again the minute I come upon some "cute guy," whether or not he be a man who loves Christ and desires Him more than anything. Hopefully soon I'll begin to make more progress. I don't want to want to grow closer to Christ just so He'll reward me with the relationship I desire - I want to truly grow closer and deepen my relationship with Him because of who He is.
Basically the whole point of everything is to devote yourself to the glory of God, and all else will follow. Greg pointed out that a lot of times, we feel like if we do what God wants, we'll never be happy. The thing is, we'll never be TRULY happy until we completely devote ourselves to Him. We're basically standing in our own way. Hopefully I'll be wise enough to see how to get out of the way and allow God to work.
Anyway, Crossroad has kicked into its 4-week study on Love, Dating, Marriage, and Sex. Tonight's topic was love. Somehow, Greg has a way of just cutting right to me, or basically pointing out what I already know to be true. Follows is an EXTREMELY brief summary and my inward reflection.
Why did God create romantic love? Like everything, for the expression of His glory. The romantic feelings we have for one another are a gift and should be treasured, but like anything on earth, this gift can be perverted by sin and our own lustful desires. I'd say what cut to me the most was the way we elevate love. You simply can't put love before God. The same response will follow were we to put sex, money, power, or whatever else there. By elevating love, it can become the most prominent source of discontent and disappointment in our lives. For a while now, I've felt like God's been protecting me from my own emotions (haha, sad but true). I tend to get to emotionally involved too quickly; basically, I'm ruled by my emotions. My emotional life seems to be the most prominent area that I refuse to give up. I mean, I want to, or at least I want to WANT to, but I just don't seem to be able to give it up. Every time I think that I begin to make some headway, I just fall back again the minute I come upon some "cute guy," whether or not he be a man who loves Christ and desires Him more than anything. Hopefully soon I'll begin to make more progress. I don't want to want to grow closer to Christ just so He'll reward me with the relationship I desire - I want to truly grow closer and deepen my relationship with Him because of who He is.
Basically the whole point of everything is to devote yourself to the glory of God, and all else will follow. Greg pointed out that a lot of times, we feel like if we do what God wants, we'll never be happy. The thing is, we'll never be TRULY happy until we completely devote ourselves to Him. We're basically standing in our own way. Hopefully I'll be wise enough to see how to get out of the way and allow God to work.