A hard concession to make to myself, as a man, is that love innervates\nme. Guys are supposed to be more aloof. My father, a great man, instilled in me\nthe identity of a warrior. Not the brawling, fisticuff type of ruffian. But a\nman with a plan and the tenacity to see it through. That tenacity tended to\ncreate silos of emotion. It was a learned skill of compartmentalizing\ndistractions. It was a way to cut through the clutter with a laser focus on\nachieving a goal. It was about making hard decisions. Winning was beating my\nability and expectation. It conjures an image of always moving toward the fight,\nthe fight being an obstacle, or an obstruction, or a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somewhere my heart changed. The fight in me grew weary. I\nstarted to see the beauty in all of God\u2019s creations. The outdoors that I loved morphed\nfrom a place to become physically stronger, to a place to experience creation.\nIt was awe-inspiring, and at times emotionally overwhelming, to see what God\nhad done. It started with the beauty of nature and slowly took over my being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Colossians 3:14<\/strong> \u201cAnd over all these virtues put on\nlove, which binds them all together in perfect unity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Love binds everything, all our virtues, all our passion, and\nall of our effort into an unstoppable force for God\u2019s kingdom. If what we are\nsearching for is not rooted in love, then we need to hit the pause button. Paul\nwrote this eloquent passage to the Corinthians concerning the power of love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 13 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c1 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 4 Love is patient; love is kind. It does not envy; it does not boast; it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others; it is not self-seeking; it is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now, we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can\u2019t fake it. People will see right through you if you try. You can not seem all loving and caring one moment and distant and cold the next. Your purpose is not just an activity that helps others. It has to be life-changing for both of you. \u201cBut where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.\u201d The echo that remains is love. The feeling of having loved and being loved is the most potent drug I know. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They say your eyes are the window of your soul. The other\nday I was listening to a speaker at a conference. The first part of the\npresentation was more how-to and why. The second part was how to apply the\nlearning. There was an astounding transformation of the speaker between the\nfirst and second parts. Her entire body\nlanguage changed; her tone became softer. She became more relaxed and focused\non the audience. Her body tilted toward them as she spoke of life-changing\nanswered prayer. She connected with the people in the room. She had compassion\nfor those who had not experienced what God can honestly do through prayer. It\nwasn\u2019t just a passion for the topic; it was a love for the audience. She wanted\ngood things for each of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 John 4:19,<\/strong> \u201cWe love because He first loved us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you make this connection, you will know God\u2019s passion\nand purpose for you in life. When you drive toward using your God-given\nresources to help people experience the love and joy of knowing Christ, then\nyou know you are on the right road. It is not enough that you can be successful\nin your chosen field; you have to want to be transformational. That is the\npurpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1 Corinthians 2:9<\/strong> \u201cHowever, as it is written: What no\neye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived \u2014 the\nthings God has prepared for those who love him.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Love binds everything, all our virtues, all our passion, and all of our effort into an unstoppable force for God\u2019s kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[12,11,9],"class_list":["post-278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motivation","category-purpose","tag-christian","tag-happiness","tag-purpose"],"yoast_head":"\n