True Love's Kiss

If you know me very well at all, you are probably surprised that I would even consider talking about true love's kiss.  I'm not a romantic and worse still, anything to do with mouths is DISGUSTING!  But I had to.  You see, true love's kiss, at least in the way Disney and chick flicks portray it, is a lie.  And that lie is destructive.


You see, any chick flick is going to show you how the guy and the girl meet and fall in love and after some conflict or another they end up together.  End of story.  Curtain.  Hurrah.


They don't show the agony that love can be.  They don't show how one person can hurt you so deeply that you feel like you will never be whole again.  They don't show you the emotionally bloody aftermath of romance gone wrong.  They just show you that true love's kiss will fix everything and all will be butterflies and roses again.


It's disgusting.  And not just because of mouths, by the way.  It's disgusting because it works slowly over time to distort our view of love.  Wanna know what love is?  Check out the definition in I Corinthians 13:4-8a...


Love suffers long.  Yes.  Suffers.  "Patient" doesn't quite do it justice.  Love suffers long.  It knows it's going to get beat up time and time again.  It knows it's going to face ups and downs.  And it does it without blowing up in your face, screaming back at you as you tell it how it hasn't lived up to your selfish expectations.


Love is kind.  It does that thing you love when you totally don't deserve it.  It lets you fight and then it comes in and hugs you warmly, knowing that all along your fight was just your way of masking the fact that you are hurting.


Love does not envy.  It's not discontented because you got what you wanted and it didn't.  It doesn't look at what you have and think it should have better.  It willingly, eagerly rejoices with you at the blessings you have received even when you are too absorbed with yourself to see what is going on around you.


Love does not parade itself.  It's not looking to be the center of attention.  It's your cheerleader.  It supports you in what you do.  It stands in the background and is so proud of you for your accomplishments.


Love is not puffed up.  It's not full of itself.  It's too full of thoughts of you to think of it's own wants, needs, desires.  It doesn't show off it's accomplishments.  It shows off yours.


Love does not behave rudely.  It's not willing to make you look bad by behaving in a manner unbecoming.  It's not willing to hurt the body of Christ by being too focused on self to notice the needs of others.


Love does not seek its own.  It's pretty content to see to your needs first.  And it truly is excited when you are happy.


Love is not provoked.  It doesn't get mad easily.  It doesn't let others goad it into bickering.  It does not get offended easily.  It's not a push over, though.


Love thinks no evil.  It isn't sitting back plotting against you, expecting you to fail.  Remember, it's your cheerleader.  It wants you to succeed and it's going to do everything it can to make sure that happens.


Love does not rejoice in iniquity.  It isn't pleased when you screw up, when you sin, when you fall on your face.  It does, however, rejoice in the truth.  It's probably more excited than you are when you have a great victory.  It loves hearing you share the truth with others.


Love bears all things.  It's right there beside you as you go through the hard times.  It struggles beside you.  It holds you up when you can't hold yourself up anymore.


Love believes all things.  This isn't some blind faith in whatever you tell it.  It's reasoned out.  It knows the truth, it knows what it's supposed to do, and it does it in faith, though that may be the scariest, most difficult thing ever.


Love hopes all things.  Oh, hope.  This is another misused word.  This isn't a wish.  It's not a desire that may not come true.  It's a certainty.  A beautiful, well-established certainty.  It doesn't waver.  It doesn't question.  It knows.  It is a confidence in the future outcome, namely heaven.  When you live in light of heaven, it's hard to have a gloomy or even a wishful outlook.


Love endures all things.  It goes through hardships.  It looks to that hope, that certainty, that faith, and it says, "Just a little while longer.  You got this."


Love never fails.  It goes to the cross and dies for you despite the agony of the act.  It never ever ever gives up.  Ever.  It will always come find you.  It always cares to know you and doesn't quit when who you are isn't very nice.  It comes through time and time again when you fall down.  It will wrap you in its arms when you are defiant and belligerent and all the things love isn't.  It will hold you close when you push it away.  It will come after you when all you want to do is avoid it.  It will do it all with gentleness, tenderness, the compassionate patience we all want in our lives.


That love is God.  He's not a push over.  He's not passive and soft and plushy.  He's fiercely devoted to His family.  He loves with an unfathomable love that will never ever deny itself.  He holds onto us when we scream and yell and tell Him no.  He won't let anything take us from Himself.  Don't think He's a tame lion.  He is good.  But you will never succeed in putting Him in your box.


So true love's kiss, while it may seem a pretty thought, is nothing more than a disgusting myth.  It makes us feel good for a moment to think of that kind of love.  But that isn't the love that will go through the trenches of all out war with you.  That isn't the love that lasts through a constant barrage of enemy fire.  It's pretty.  And it's fleeting.  You want to know what true love is, take a look at the Bible.  True love is rugged.  It's rough.  It very often isn't pretty.  It walks across the finish line muddied, bruised, and bleeding.  But it is victorious.  And it knows it.  There's no question if it would ever walk out on you.  It won't.


My friends, my heart's desire truly is that you would find this love.  But I can promise you this, there is only one place you will find it.  God.  And don't be deceived.  That love does not mean that He will protect you from the consequences of your sin or that He will make sure you are always healthy and wealthy.  That's not love.  Much as we would like to think it is, love wasn't easy on Him.  We're selfish to think it should be easy on us.  It's hard.  But it's totally worth it.