Love is the greatest thing ever! It's the most important thing and some people completely miss it. The most common mistake is to think that love is a feeling or an emotion. There can be some emotions wrapped up with it but don't mistake what love really is.

I want you to understand three types of love.

Type 1: Erotic love - I believe this is what most people think of when they talk about love. This stuff is great but it isn't love in its highest form. It helps romantic relationships get started but it isn't the kind of love that keeps those relationships going long-term. This is the kind of feeling that happens when two people find one another attractive or appealing and want to do stuff like hold hands and kiss, etc. It's dependent on physical attraction. Without it, you wouldn't exist. It's finding someone attractive.

Type 2: Brotherly love - This is a sort of friendship love or companionship love. I think this is best described by the word, "like." This sort of love is shared by two people who often have similar views and have a friendly relationship. It depends on cooperation and the ability resolve differences of opinion. It's not based on physical attraction but emotional attraction. This sort of love is stronger that the first type but even this type has its weaknesses. If one of the people fails to be forgiving, the relationship will end. If the issue that divides is more important than the friendship to just one of the people, that relationship ends. Brotherly love is liking someone.

Type 3: Godly love - This is the real thing. This is what keeps the other two types of love alive when disagreements persist or one is completely unattractive. This love is: A decision to do what is the best interest of another. Get it? It's not an emotion or feeling. It's a decision. It's a commitment. It's the way God loves us. It's the only way we can love our enemies. How else can we love someone who is not lovely?

What does it mean to "believe" or "trust"?

We trust people and objects continuously.

Example: A child jumps from a high place into the arms of a trusted bigger person. You've all done this. Ready or not, you would just jump trusting someone to catch you. Jesus admired the ability of children to believe. It's adults who have believing problems.

Example: We sit in chairs everyday with the confidence it will bear our weight. Don't chairs break? Of course they do. We still seem to trust them every day. Does God fail? Never. It can sometimes feel like God isn't at work but He is. We just can't always see it, understand it, or feel it.

Example: We trust vending machines. We give the machine some money trusting it will give you what you paid for. We don't get our stuff before we make the investment of trust. We trust stores in the same way.

I Live For This

When you've made this decision I want to hear about it. I don't care if it's 3 in the morning. Call me. It's the most important thing... ever.