Hey Mary, Likey Likey Ain’t Love!

1 John 4:15-18 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 

Love is… patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; (1 Corinthians 13:4-8)

Love is not… about LIKEY LIKEY! Likey Likey, being ALL ABOUT YOU ME!

It is the “Selfie” of the soul. It is everyone and everything that my “I”(no, not EYE although it is the first to see the potential) approves as useful and/or pleasant to behold.

Likey is my word for all those things/people that I claim to love, yet have no intention of serving – only being served.

You won’t find LIKEY in the dictionary (in fact as I type, spellcheck wants to correct my obviously unintentional mistakes… so many red lines!) and I really REALLY don’t care. There are so many words in our language today that have been skewered to the point of having no meaning or incapable of making any sense. Overuse of a word can depreciate its impact but using a word with no regard for true context, DESTROYS the meaning, the value, the impact, and thus becomes impossible for others to translate into meaningful communication. Which, if the truth were told, might be the ultimate goal of evil… divide/isolate/easily take captive and/or destroy (hmmm – sounds familiar in our present day politics).

Please don’t misunderstand. The words that have been abused and skewered have not become BAD words. The words themselves remain the same even when they are misconstrued. Love and like do not change simply because I and my fellow citizens may be experiencing our own consequences for attempting to build the _”Mary”_ version of (feel free to fill in the blank with a name of someone who MIGHT be in a similar process of renovating or reconstructing) the tower of Babel (see Genesis 11).

Whether or not I have been doing my own tower maintenance, this week, God “woke” (!rabbit trail! stay on point, Mary) me to the true usage of love. It seems that, Not only do I apply it using my own definition (which is so full of anything and everything), I apply it as a bun to wrap around my “nothing burger”!

Yes, I have read the Scriptures and have been trained up in God’s school of Love. I KNOW God IS LOVE! But knowing and doing are the two sides, forever bonded together, of Free Will (freedom to choose), the gift of an Image Bearer of God. I choose to know and I choose to do. But… may I share a little secret with you? I am NOT yet PERFECT! And this may be even more shocking… neither are you!

I use this disclaimer, not as an excuse, but as a reminder that  being “woke” by God is not about being perfect and in need of a deserved stoning (though He is the only one without sin that has the right to throw the stones). God is not in the business of punishing the imperfect, He is in the business of perfecting the imperfect whom He created to be perfect (whom we were for a minute in Paradise). A process He does not expect to be finished this side of His Kingdom.

No matter how many times, or how many ways, or how many  tests are necessary, God does and will, train me up using His definition… His intentions… His Word spelled L-O-V-E.

God is love!

The one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this…

Love is perfected with us!

Certainly not my tower of Likey Likey babel! We love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19) 

We are inhabited by God… 1 Corinthians 6:17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Still free to choose to know and do…but just so you know… you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16) 

God doesn’t make us be play nice… or take away His love from us when we don’t know and do TRUE love. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. 

I have to be wiling to DELETE my likey likey version – you know the one that is all about me me me me me – and constantly PUBLISH God’s version all over my “selfie space”.

How do I do this?

1 John 4:20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. 

It’s not about me… it’s all about God in me!

Just REMEMBER… you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. (1 Corinthians 6:20 )

Never fear love… but always obey!  1 John 4:21 And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also. 

Just Do It… but do it with love!!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.