Love

Love is when you put someone else’s needs before your own. It’s not a word to be casually thrown around; it’s not a feeling; it is meant to be shown. It is not selfish and it is not manipulative. It isn’t easy. It’s very hard to love, especially to love unconditionally. “Conditional love” is just another way of saying, “I love what you can do for me”, and that isn’t love, it’s selfishness. Love requires honesty-you can’t show love to someone by lying to them. Lies can be a form of manipulation, which creates distrust, and you can’t have love without trust.

Love requires not being picky. If you are really going to show love, you can’t leave people out because they’re awkward or they have different political or religious views or their lifestyle doesn’t match yours. You can’t love and be judgmental. So often at church, I heard not to talk with people who were gay or Muslim or atheist or pregnant and unmarried, etc. That’s not how you show people love. The church has lost sight of loving others like Jesus did-Jesus loved everyone, even the social outcasts. Following Christ is not so much about following the church guidelines as it is about loving like Jesus loved.