The signboard said…
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THERE’S NO “I” IN “LOVE”! |
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OK…. maybe a little corny and trite. Maybe a bit too much along the lines of the classic message that says “WHAT’S MISSING IN CH CH?” (if you need the answer… “U R” missing…).
But, can love be truly selfless? Don’t you have to love yourself before you can love others? And don’t you have to think of yourself before you can love yourself???
The couple- in unison- then responded “We Do!” Instead of two staggered repetitions of “I Do”, the couple responded as one: “We Do.”
The judge and couple had to chuckle at the “cuteness” of the scene, but obviously this couple considered themselves to be a package deal instead of two individuals.
Love Your Neighbor / Love Yourself…
In Matthew 22, some Pharisees tried to test Jesus by asking Him, “what is the greatest commandment in the law?” Here’s His answer (Matthew 22:37-39):
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
“Love your neighbor as yourself.” You might be thinking that if you’re going to love your neighbor (or love God for that matter), you have to start out by loving yourself. Maybe the progression is to love yourself, then love your neighbor, and then you’ll naturally love God. LOVE starts with “I” ???
But that’s not what Jesus said. He said the first step is to love God with all you’ve got.
Love Starts with God…
The Apostle John, in his letters, told us a lot about Love, but he didn’t say a word about “Ilove.” Here’s what he wrote in 1 John 4:7-10…
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
True love is totally tied to God. You can’t have any love in you unless God put it there. You don’t love God because you force yourself to do it. Loving God isn’t a New Year’s Resolution. Love originates from God, not from self.
And beyond that, even God’s love is selfless. He sent His one and only Son so that we could be forgiven. Jesus’ sacrifice connects us to the the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit brings us to God and gives us the ability to love. We humans are kinda out of the loop in that progression!
How to Love God
OK. God put love into us. But what’s that mean? How do we love God? John had quite a bit to say about that question too. Here’s 2 John verse 6…
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.
To love God, we have to WALK in obedience to His commands. Not just grudgingly do a good deed now and then. Not just to do a random act of kindness or to drop a bit extra in the offering plate. In order to love God, we are called to be like Him. God’s sanctifying grace constantly molds us into His image. God’s love for us shows us how to love others (and ourselves).
Loving Yourself
Walking in God’s commands does mean that you need to recognize the investment God has made in you. Remember these words from Psalm 139…
1. O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.
God knows you. God has invested in you. God loves you. That means that you do need to love yourself too. But if you love yourself without basing that love on the way God values you, you’re headed in the wrong direction.
There’s no “I” in “Love”!
Love has to start without “I”. In order to love God by taking on His attributes, we have to begin by letting go of our own self interests. 
We are called to love ourselves and to recognize our value to God. But this love isn’t based on our own accomplishments or on our own righteousness. It’s totally based on the fact that God loves us. If we’re good enough for God, we must be good enough for ourselves! By loving God, we love ourselves. Ironically, the more selfless we become, the more we can love ourselves.
To love (God, neighbors, or ourselves) we’ve got to take on that same “package deal” mentality that the municipal court couple had. Recognize that love comes from God, and not from self. Love doesn’t happen with just “I.” Love flows out when we allow God’s Spirit to flow in. Love is a partnership with the One who is Love.
LOVE doesn’t start with “I”!
