You're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love! Most people who grew up in the 80s remember the song by artist Robert Palmer, and we think of sexy women dancing, swaying, and strutting their stuff in their tight black dresses pretending to play electric guitars strapped around their necks. The men were taught through the images on the Tele (distant)-vision (apparition) that our true LOVE would sway, dance, and look like Robert Palmer's girls. The women on the other hand were also being programmed that in order to have a man love them they also needed to look like the make-believe models on the television. There is a huge problem with being addicted to love in the worldly (carnal) way of loving not only with a potential mate but also with people in the least desirable arena of our imagined opponents. We are all looking for love but rarely do we come to the full understanding of what this even means. How do we love the undesirables? How do we love our enemies? How do we love like Jesus loved the church? I want to make my confusion about love personal for one moment. I have been under a great deal of pressure to perform, to remove the carnal way of thinking, the fleshly desire, the urge to procreate. I have a desire to love like Jesus Christ loved, or so I assume? What does this even look like in the context of break-ups (which I have gone through too many times to count)? How does a person love without the expectation of receiving love back? I want to extend some ideas to help bridge any uncertainty in the love arena. Robert Palmer's song is about being addicted to the conception or idea of love. The images that we conjure (call upon) up in our minds, the Love Buzz that we feel for the first time we hold hands, kiss, or have intimate encounters with. It's all superficial and it usually fades fast. In a world of "hook-up" sites, dating apps, social media, and the millions (billions?) of images and memes of happy couples living a life of bliss, it is no wonder that being addicted to love is a huge industry and has become a playground for the most confused and discontented of souls. It is also no wonder that the temporary dopamine hit of Love Buzz never results in anything long-lasting or meaningful. What did Jesus mean then? Love your neighbors? Love your enemies! geeesh! Clearly one can see the confusion with the kind of love that Jesus addresses. First off love is not a feeling, it is an action. Extending the kind of love that Jesus poured out to the people of his day was sacrificial love, he expected nothing in return. He stood up to the bullies of the day (the Sadducees and Pharisees). He made sure that the most undesirables had a voice. He stood in front of the stone throwers to save a young (assumed) lady's life. He slayed the dragon spirit of greed and gluttony. He was a superhero for the ages past and future. He was an example of how to love. As a result of sacrificial love, Jesus was mocked, slandered, spit on, and eventually killed! The kind of love that Jesus hoped that we would adopt in our hearts was going to be hard. Just do the right thing (the Holy Spirit) rings in our ears, and we hold back from standing in front of the stones being thrown at the undesirables. We want to help but sometimes it is easier to ignore that the undesirables even exist. At times we may have taken it to the next level by putting ourselves above the ones being persecuted, born out of ego that God must love us better. Ego and Fear drive us to do the wrong thing, the opposite of love. When going through your days this week, choose to do the right thing. It is amazing how addicting love is when your heart chooses to be a vessel, your true daily sacrifice. By the vessel, William John
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THe VEssel William JohnAvailable NOW! Archives
November 2024
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