“What’s LOVE got to do with it, got to do with it! What’s LOVE but a second hand emotion! What’s LOVE got to do with it, got to do with it? Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?”

It’s February, and hearts are EVERYWHERE! They pop up on every store front window we pass.
Hearts of chocolate glare at us from the candy store window. Hearts of paper beckon us to enter in and send a card from the stationary store window. Hearts of fabric tempt us to buy that adorable Valentine sweater from the department store window. Hearts of flowers, bright red, brilliant pink and soft white, catching us with their alluring aroma in the flower shop windows. Even hearts of Helium floating above us as we shop in the grocery store seem to call our name.
I mean after all, those ‘conversation hearts’ embedded in our childhood memories, tell us by their supreme wisdom what love is all about…
“Let’s Kiss”, “Love Me”, “Love You”, “You’re Mine”, Let’s Get together”, “XOXO”, “BE Mine”, and my favorite,”Cutie Pie.”
Seriously, who could go wrong in the LOVE department with such sound, solid advice?

WE COULD! That’s who! And sadly, WE DO, time and time again! Why, because we allow the world to define LOVE for us.

The world puts out Valentine Movies, and even title’s them “VALENTINES DAY”, with LOVE HATERS! Those who have defined LOVE in their lives by the song lyrics above! “WHAT’S LOVE BUT A SECOND HAND EMOTION?” And, “WHO NEEDS A HEART WHEN A HEART CAN BE BROKEN?”
So, they throw a ‘Valentine Party’, a “We Hate Valentine’s Day Party!” They take a baseball bat and take angry, hurt swings at a heart piñata, and curse every person or moment that has “BROKEN THEIR HEARTS!”
There is truth to their feelings. They have been hurt, let down, disappointed….WE ALL HAVE! Their hearts have been broken, just like ours have! Their emotions have been shared vulnerably with another, and then they have been shattered, smacked around and beat up just like the piñata heart swinging from the rope!
Yes, there is painful truth to those Valentine Movies. WE DO have hearts and they DO get broken. We do have emotions and they DO get shattered.

But, back to the song lyrics, “WHAT’S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT?”
LOVE has EVERYTHING to DO WITH IT! TRUE LOVE, REAL LOVE that doesn’t love you because of how you look, how you act or even what you give back!
LOVE that says, “I LOVE you just the way you are…on your good days and bad days, on your sick days and healthy days, when you remember me and when you don’t, I LOVE YOU EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE AND BEYOND!
I LOVE you so much that I gave my life for you so that you could know what TRUE LOVE REALLY IS….

“FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONE AND ONLY SON, THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE.” JOHN 3:16

PLEASE DO NOT MISS THE POWERFUL TRUTH OF THIS VERSE!

Most of us learned this verse when we were very young, we see it printed on poster board at sporting events, and we hear it quoted frequently. My caution to you and me, is that, while this verse may be our most familiar verse, never let it grow “common!”
It holds great TRUTH AND POWER, it holds LOVE, TRUE LOVE!
It exposes the falsehood that the world exploits in all of the ways I shared above, that love is an EMOTION or a FEELING!
It proves the TRUTH that TRUE LOVE is an ACT, an ACTION! TRUE LOVES GIVES! The Father gave HIS SON! The SON gave HIS LIFE!

Truth Bomb

True Love Gives!

My dear, sweet friends, YOU ARE LOVED! This month when we celebrate Valentine’s Day and run into hearts everywhere we turn, remember you are loved every day that you live!
God LOVES you so much that HE GAVE you His most cherished possession HIS ONE AND ONLY SON!
This Act of Giving caused Him great agony and pain. He was forced to turn His face away from His Son as the weight of the sin of the entire world, MY SIN AND YOUR SIN INCLUDED, rested on His SON! He endured the physical, emotional and mental abuse the world put on His Son, unjustifiably! He allowed the world to kill and bury His Son…and then HIS GREAT LOVE FOR YOU, FOR ME, AND FOR THE ENTIRE WORLD proved TRUE when He raised Him from the dead!
JESUS LOVES you so much that He willingly allowed all of the weight of the world to fall upon Him so that YOU and I could know TRUE LOVE!

“GREATER LOVE HAS NO ONE THAT THIS, THST HE LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS.” JOHN 15:13

There is no doubt WE ARE LOVED! The question is, will we accept God and His TRUE LOVE to define LOVE in us? Or, will we allow the world to define LOVE for us?

LOVE HURTS! WE offer our hearts to another when we TRULY LOVE, and undeniably our hearts are often broken! However, don’t forget, God is the God of the Broken-hearted, His TRUE LOVE repairs and restores ALL HEARTS. The beauty of TRUE LOVE, GODS LOVE, is that it NEVER FAILS, DISAPPOINTS or REJECTS!
GOD IS LOVE!

So, Happy February! Let’s embrace this month as an opportunity that the world has already deemed appropriate, to demonstrate TRUE LOVE, and show the world what LOVE REALLY IS!

Feel Loved My Friends, because you TRULY are!

Meet you back here next week when the LOVE keeps flowing!

Speak Truth Love