Monday, March 16, 2015

Learning Love

I've been thinking lately about love. I've seen some people really good at it. They love people well. They think about others first. I want that trait to mark my life. Below is a poem that came out of some of those thoughts. 

Teach Me How to Love

Scornful eye cast
     on one less along
Perception of being
     farther along
Hidden rejection of
     someone I should love
Crying, “I want to know You.”
     But You are Love,
The command You give,
     “One another, love.”
Not searching for
     poetry, praise, A’s
“Feed Me, Clothe Me, Visit Me.”
     This to the least of these.
Greatest of all
      used towel and bowl
On knees, washing feet.
     Love with heart, mind, body, soul.
Though I’ve everything
     lacking this I’m nothing
You look at heart
     not at shell
Give not merely words
     but life as well
This, this will outlast all.
     While else falls to dust.
God, my God,
     we can because You have.
God, my God,
     teach me how to love.


I was reading in Ephesians 3:14-19, verses I'd read dozens of times before, and was struck by them, especially by verse 19, Paul's prayer for the church in Ephesus, "to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." 

That's it. 

I long for a full life, a rich life, an abundant life. One with no regrets. One that is significant. One that is not wasted. I want to experience for all my days the fullness of God. And this is the fullness of God...knowing the love of Christ. 

Searching for the word "know" in a Bible concordance, I found that it means to learn to know, to perceive, to feel. It even can denote intimacy between a husband and wife. This knowing of Christ's love is more than intellectual knowledge. It is a real knowing, an encountering.  

If I ever hope to love others, I need to know His love first (1 John 4:19). I have been praying Ephesians 3:18-19 for myself and others; "Lord, let me know Your love that I may be filled with the fullness of God." 

Verse 20 gives me hope. He "is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think." He is able to do it. Amen. 


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