What kind of love do you want?

God has been teaching me a lot lately on the kind of love that He wants me to give out to my wife, and I have to admit it is a lot harder than it sounds and it is much easier to write about it than to do it. I think my wife would tell you the same thing. That being said, the goal is to strive for it and continue working towards it.

So what kind of love does God want us to show His people? Sometimes I think it is impossible to ever understand, because our natural reaction is to get defensive or strike back when we are hurt or someone does us wrong. By ourselves, it is impossible to show the kind of love that God shows us, but thank the Lord that He has given us a perfect example and a perfect blueprint and it is up to us to deny ourselves and let Him mold us.

The catch is that once you know about the kind of love that only God can give, we can fall into the trap of expecting that kind of love from our spouses. It won't work, never has, never will. The hardest thing in a relationship is not to expect anything from our mates, we all have needs to be met don't we? The truth is only God can fulfill all our needs, and until we except that and hold on to that we will never be happy with our relationships. Until we surrender totally to Him we will never be able to give or receive the kind of love that He wants us to have. There are many aspects to God's love, but if we remember the part that it keeps no record of wrongs, and actually apply it, like He does for us, then we are well on our way.

So we can go on and let our pride convince us that we deserve to be treated a certain way before we can treat our mate the way God wants us to treat them, or instead of asking what kind of love do I want, we can ask ourselves what kind of love can I give. What if for the next 30 days, we asked ourselves that every morning and asked God to help us do it, regardless of what is happening around us. Are you up for the challenge? I hope I am.

If you don't know about the kind of love I am talking about, it is all summed up in one little verse. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, and whosoever believes in Him will have everlasting life. Jesus paid the ultimate price for us and showed us how we are supposed to love. The first step in achieving true love and happiness is asking the risen Savior to come into your life.