Have you ever stopped to spend some time thinking about love? It’s really an odd emotion isn’t it? It’s more than simply liking someone or something. It’s a strong emotion that often causes people to do things that others just shake their head at.
Our human love comes in a few different forms. There is the crazy love that happens when two people fall in love. When young folks do so, we may even call it puppy love. Why is that? Much like the name, it’s a young love that isn’t going to last. It won’t stay in that stage forever.
That means love must mature. Mature love is something quite different from puppy love. It includes several other desires with it, such as caring, doing, longing, appreciating, and even continuing to love when you don’t like something the other does or says. If we think about it long enough, we can come up with more components of mature love.
We don’t fully understand what causes love in our lives. Oh, we know that the initial emotional love between two people often starts with a physical attraction, but not always. It may start with a common interest. In either case, love creeps into the picture, sometimes without our recognizing it until it hits us that we love the other person.
In other cases, we grow up with love. For many of us, we love our parents with an appreciating love. We trust and appreciate them because they cared for us as children and helped us to grow into adults. When we have this type of love, it lasts longer due to it being deeper and having grown for several years or decades.
Jesus tells us that our love for God is to be stronger than any other love we have. He covers the three components that make up our being—heart, soul, and mind. Our heart is the emotional piece. It’s the one that starts as puppy love and matures into something more.
Our mind is the piece that appreciates who the other person is and what the other person does. It is was causes us to do for the other. The rational thought of our mind combines with the emotional love of our heart to mature our love.
The soul is the component we struggle to understand. It is a gift from God. It is internal and not seen. Yet, it is what connects us to God. When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, God puts His Spirit inside us and joins us to Him. I think of it as a big brother coming along side and putting his arm around my shoulder and talking in my ear to guide me. Loving with our soul is a key component to loving God with all our being.
I pray we all love God with our whole being. I pray we love Him with heart, soul, and mind. I pray each of us will take time to ponder our love with God and recommit to Him. Love God with your entire being. Strive to mature your love for God. Spend time with Him. God loves you.
Matthew 22:37-38 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.”
Marty Pressey 