What's Love Got To Do With It?

I attended a wedding yesterday afternoon - actually, it was a re-wedding. The bride and groom are both friends of ours, and they had been married, divorced, gotten back together and decided to get remarried yesterday on Valentine’s Day. It was a very sweet ceremony where nearly 100 friends and family members gathered to show their support for the happy couple.

I always enjoy listening to another minister’s approach in officiating a wedding. The gentleman who performed the ceremony last night did a great job of talking about new beginnings and how the Lord never leaves us or forsakes us. He talked about how each of them was making a covenant, not a contract, before and to God. He painted a beautiful picture of what it means to LOVE each other - no matter what. I took comfort in his unique relationship with the bride and groom, and I thought of others whom I have been privileged to serve in a similar capacity. 

What struck me most, though, was how I saw Christ and His bride, the Church, in that ceremony. To use the officiating minister’s words, we live in a microwave age where most everything is disposable. Yet God, in His glory and grace, finds us to be worthy of saving. Worthy of sacrifice. Worthy to be loved. I took comfort in that because I feel like I don’t give Him a lot of reasons to love me. I took comfort because, thankfully, it’s not about me - it’s all about Him. What’s love got to do with it? Absolutely everything. And He offers it freely.

On this Valentine’s Day weekend, maybe we should be reminded to approach our spouses with that kind of love. To quote Paul’s letter to the Church at Corinth - maybe we should be patient, kind, and gentle…maybe we should keep no record of wrongs. What if we loved our spouses with the agape love that God has for us - one that gives, and KEEPS ON GIVING, without expecting anything in return? What if we offered love freely, with no expectation that it would be reciprocated? What’s love got to do with it? Yeah, absolutely everything.

Don’t forget that this weekend a lot of our high school students will be heading to Gatlinburg. We’ll be leaving at noon on Friday. We also have our spring mission camp coming up to Coldstream Christian Retreat. Signups are going on NOW.

Please let me know if there’s anything I can pray about for you or your family.

- Michael