Love Is . . .

If you're old enough, you probably remember the early 1970's as a time in which the marketing phenomenon of "Love is . . . " burst on to the scene. Everything from comic strips to coffee cups were used to define for us what "Love is . . . ".

Little did the world of advertising know that long before they saturated every corner of the globe with their warm and fuzzy quips, the Apostle John wrote a collection of letters to 'his dear children' in which he nailed the Truth down for us. Among his teachings was the proclamation that "God is love". Oh, the shortcomings of this world's most prolific advertisers!

"Love is . . . God"! Shout it from the rooftops - sing it from the rafters but you're still left with the challenge of fully comprehending it - fully describing it - and fully receiving it. And yet, what human on the planet doesn't desire its richness as we do the very air we breathe? It's power over us is nothing short of a mind boggling mystery . . . all the while being a life sustaining blessing.

Driven by the amazement that settles within you after experiencing first hand God's true sacrificial love, I strongly urge you to spend a moment - maybe even two -and contemplate this thing called 'the greatest of these'. This thing that, through meditation, even William Shakespeare asked and declared . . . "Is love a fancy, or a feeling? No. It is immortal as immaculate Truth".

My heart's desire is to express it fully in words so that it leaps off of the page and permeates every pore of your life . . . but I cannot. Who can reduce God to nothing more than words on a page? No, all I can do is allow the release of the abundance within my heart to overflow as encouragement to you and say . . . go . . . for the time is growing short. These days are full of wars and rumors of wars . . . of famines and earthquakes, tsunamis and threats of nuclear devastation. It is now time to prepare for His return. 'The greatest of these' must be spoken of and shared and received just as Jesus taught us to do in the parable of the talents written about in Matthew 25. Take this life giving - life sustaining treasure out into the fields. Plant it, water it, cultivate it so that the harvest is rich and bountiful upon the Master's return.

Lord God, Father of us all, be with us in these days of distress and release Yourself within to overflowing, in Jesus' name I pray.
Amen and amen.