Love...

"Love Is Not Against The Law" - Derek Webb

politics or love
can make you blind or make you see
make you a slave or make you free
but only one does it all

and it’s giving up your life
for the ones you hate the most
it’s giving them your gown
when they'’ve taken your clothes

it’s learning to admit
when you’'ve had a hand in setting them up
in knocking them down

(chorus)
love is not against the law
love is not against the law

are we defending life
when we just pick and choose
lives acceptable to lose
and which ones to defend

‘cause you cannot choose your friends
but you choose your enemies
and what if they were one
one and the same

could you find a way
to love them both the same
to give them your name

(chorus)

I've been thinking a lot about what Love is and what it is not. I can't say that I've got it figured out, but it's something I've been thinking about. For instance, Love is not passive. It doesn't just put up with whatever nor let someone do that which will hurt them, for fear of coming across the wrong way, or fear of rejection. Love has no fear. Love is bold. Love speaks truth and is good.

Love is patient and kind and chooses to see the best in people, but is also not naive. It is not oblivious to the cost of loving, nor is it unwise. Love sets boundaries and at times chooses to love even though it is the harder, more risky, more dangerous road. Love is active. Love does not stand idlely by while another suffers. Love doesn't settle. Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. Yet love is not just a fairy-tale feeling that is based merely in hope. Love has foundation. Love never fails because there is One created love and sustains love. He is love.

"Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or pride or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, NLT)

"love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear... We love each other as a result of his loving us first." (1 John 4:18,19)