Have We Forgotten How to Love?

Wow. I don't know if I will ever fully understand the "intricacies" of the human being....To have such disregard for other human beings, other children of God, is an atrocity of astronomical proportions. We need leaders in our world, in our homes, that show how to love instead of how to hate. We need leaders that build up instead of tear down. We wonder why our many of our youth seem to lack a complete, uncorrupted idea of what love truly is, but let us take a look at many of the role models of our youth. What characteristics of love does mainstream media portray? What characteristics of love do our leaders today portray? This is not to say that every role model and every leader represents a corrupted idea of love. There are some great role models and leaders, but the problem arises from where many people look for their role models. The problem comes from what the majority finds attractive and desirable. These negative influence on many people chokes out the good message. It creates a worldly barrier that is sometimes difficult for the positive influences that exist to penetrate. We are in the midst of a spiritual battle. We are in a battle to ensure the continued survival of love, but the great news is that us followers of Christ have the Savior of the world by our side. We are not in battle alone, and Christ is sure to prevail. Love, being the very nature of Christ, is sure to prevail in the end. This means we can stand with a certain amount of encouragement!


I understand and accept that no one is perfect, but we as a society have got to move toward an attitude of love. It truly benefits those who are loved and those who love though I recognize it isn't always easy. In times of weakness it is love that gives us strength. In times of sorrow it is love that brings us joy. In times of hurt it is love that brings us healing. The necessity to love is not for any one person. It is for EVERYONE, myself included. It is during these times that we love, even when it almost seems impossible, that we progress as a society. It is during those times that we, as followers of Christ, make great progress on our journey to be more like Him...Let us be ambassadors of love. 


This does not mean that you become a doormat for people to walk upon. That is not the essence of love. There will be times when you must partake in confrontations with various people, but the important thing is that you approach the situation with love. To continually allow yourself to be beaten down is not love. The Bible says we must love ourselves. This is an important thing that many people with loving hearts will sometimes forget though many people often have the opposite problem. The Bible says we must love our neighbors as ourselves. It does not say we must love ourselves as our neighbors. This tells me that to appropriately love our neighbors, we must have an appropriate love ourselves. I know this sounds a little weird me saying "we need to love ourselves." That very thing, in the worldly sense, is what I am writing against. But I say love in a Christ-like, non-worldly context, as I am sure most everyone probably knows. We are part of His creation, and we are to love His creation in its entirety. I will admit it is sometimes difficult to find this balance because we must not become strictly self-loving in the worldly sense. It is terrible that the concept of love has become so corrupted in many circumstances that I must continually make the distinction between Christ-like love and worldly love. But the important thing to remember is to handle the situations we encounter and the confrontations we may have in our lives with love. We need to handle these with other people in the same way we would want them to be handled with us. We need to give the same love and respect we would want to receive. If we do this we can maintain the that balance.


I understand that this is not directly related to my schoolwork here, but my reflection upon this concept of love has been a part of my experience here in Costa Rica. I am writing not only about my academic experiences while here, but also about my thoughts, ideas, and reflections throughout the semester. 


With that being said, I love you all and I pray that each of us will be an example of love to the world. God Bless.