Be in Love,

[Nira]

Love… When this word is mentioned, definitely everyone can relate to it. Whatever the definition of love we believe in or whatever experiences, feelings, status, age and situations we are in, we all get inspired when love is the topic.

Heart’s day is coming and love songs are surely in the air. Chocolates, flowers, gifts and dates are everyone’s concern. People want to believe that they are in love again. Some reminisce their first date, first “hi”, first kiss and “first love”, never mind that these happened many decades ago. First love, the say, never dies. Some even get over melodramatic and their feelings become sickness without cure.

Love has its right time, right circumstances, right place and right person. True love which was meant for us comes at just the right time. The Bible said, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven..” (Ecclesiastes 3:1) And this doesn’t exclude love matters. God created a man and a woman and surely, God has a very special plan about it. Not to mention that God itself is Love.

My friends often tease me of not having a boyfriend. They are more excited for me to have one. They attempted match making which I just smiled about and shrugged off. I am in no hurry actually. I don’t want to get into a relationship, not because I’m afraid to be hurt or to hurt someone, not because I’m choosy or that no one has ever courted me. It’s more than that. I simply want this aspect of my life to be a form of worship to Him.

That is why I asked before, what worship means to you? Many of your have answered, that it’s in the form of singing, music, instruments, etc. Worship has to be beyond that. We have to check ourselves. Is our life acceptable to the Lord? We have to check if we live a life that is holy and pleasing to Him. That would mean a very important worship for Him, because our life is all that we can offer. And I want my love life, to be another part of my worship for Him.

If God can count how many hairs we have, if He knows what is in our mind and every single thing we do - hidden or not, He definitely knows how many tears have fallen from your eyes or your partner’s because of what we call “love”. God has a wonderful plan for each and every one of us, our love life included.

Young people of today are always in a hurry about this. That is why teenage pregnancy is on the rise, abortion, and other attendant problems accompanying this misinformed generation’s quest for love. They are easily compromised because the “peer pressure”, like he or she is the only one in the group who doesn’t have a partner and has to be “in” and not suffer rejection.

Some enter into relationship just to experience how it feels, to experience the pleasure it brings, which incidentally being mistaken for love when all it really is, is lust. Love is so, so different from sex. Surely, love is more than feelings and whatever good feeling sex gives.

Love is long suffering and kind. It does not look for its own interest, does not count mistakes but hopes and bears all things. God’s love for us is our example. It is not something that lasts for a “short time”, it’s not always “easy to get”, it’s not always “take and take” and it’s not, “it’s all your fault”. These are some of the lines we usually hear when sweet “love” goes sour. As if yesterday’s sweetness in their ‘I love you’s’ had instantly disappeared. It’s because, they define love quite differently from God’s own definition.

Maybe, it’s high time to take a second look at this word. Let’s rethink what it truly means. Does our present romantic relationship glorify the Lord? Is what we call “love” manifested in our actions or in our life? God deserves more than this offering. He deserves more that this worship. When time comes that we will give account for everything that we do here, it’s for sure, that “love” stuff is in the list.

Be in love!