What is it worth?

I was helping a friend book a flight to go see his girlfriend. In the midst of this, he says "I want the best deal on the flight that I can get..." So we're looking around, searching hard for the best price, but everything was looking incredibly expensive. He was trying his hardest to get to see... I mean dude is so in love and all he wanted was to be with her...

The thought after we talked was What value is he placing on his relationship... What is it worth to him to go see her.

This made me think a bit farther. What is our relationship with God and others worth to us? Is it worth waking up at 5:30 a.m. to read your word, pray and just spend time with God knowing that you have to be at work and could have slept in.. Is it worth taking time away from everything to spend time in God's presence? Is it worth turning your phone off in Church and letting HIM be your focus? Is it worth getting involved in Ministry, without pay, and giving up that time for the advancement of God's kingdom?

I know some of you say that there isn't any time in the day to get everything done.... But let me present this to you, Jesus always had time to pray. Jesus always had time to spend time with the Father and those around him. Jesus always had time to show love... Yes, his disciples walked with him. They were with him all the time, however, did HE not stop when the woman with the blood issue touched him? He was in a crowd - full of people - and he stopped when she specifically touched him. Luke 8: 43-48. Keep in mind, Jesus was already on his way to heal a sick little girl when she stopped him... Yet he deemed it worth it, to stop, talk with the woman, and heal her before going onto the house. There are many other spots in the Bible where people were on their way to do something deemed important, yet they found it worth it to give up that time to help someone in need. They found it worth it to stop and show love...

Speaking of Love. Love is a powerful thing. It can make us do some crazy things. We place great value on doing things for the ones we love. While a parent might complain about having to drive their kids around for after-school activities, the parent finds that it is worth it to do this. This in fact goes for anyone. People make time for that which they place great value on without thought as to what they are sacrificing for it to happen. People make decisions everyday as to what somethings value is... I wonder at times, what if God ever did that to us? What if he ever said "Oh, you're worth spending $5 on and you're only worth $3..." We never have to worry about this when it comes to God. He loved all of us enough to say I will give you my only begotten son. John 3:16. Thank God that additionally he loved us enough to give us a book with instructions on how to not only love God, but to KNOW him in the Hebrew sense of the word.... Thank God that we never have to worry about HIM ever deciding we're not worth a $800 flight....

Getting back to my friend, he ultimately decided that spending time, and as much time as he could with his girlfriend was worth it enough to go ahead and book his flight instead of trying and waiting and hoping for the best deal.

Maybe, just like my friend had to, we need to stop and think, about what it is that we put value on. We have to reevaluate.... Is it worth it...

God's Love

There are times when you find yourself deep in thoughts about things...

I have found myself as of late thinking about God's love. He loves us so much that he gave his only begotten son to die for our sins. I know this concept at times can be hard to wrap your mind around. How can the all-loving God, sacrifice someone who has done nothing, for people who have done a lot and who keep doing things without any regard to how they hurt people.

I believe he did that to give us what the perfect example of love is.

In English we have one word for love - Love... Whereas in many other languages there is more than one way to describe love.. Greek has a few words for it but four come to mind: Agape, Eros, Philia, and Storge. Maybe this is why we cannot wrap our minds around it.... We use the word love for everything. There is no distinction between us loving our siblings, our dogs, and our cars. When using the same word for various types, it loses its meaning and its impact... Maybe this is also why we take love for granted...

God, in his infinite wisdom knew that there would be times when we would need to know and feel what love means. He knew that as the world went on, we would become desensitized to the use of the word.... He knew that when we said love, that there would be times when we meant it in an physical manner (eros), or that there would be times when we mean that I love you like a brother, that the love is out of a sense of loyalty because of our shared history and affiliations (philia).  He knew that we would go through life over using the word and that we would need an example of what it meant to love someone not expecting anything in return. He knew that we would need an example of what it meant to sacrifice for whom we love... This is Agape love. This is how we should love: Without expecting anything in return, without wondering if the person loves us. We should just love to love....

I believe that no matter how hard God tried, and still tries to tell us he loves us, he had to give an example of the depth of his love. He knew that we would not be able to wrap our minds around this concept so he gave us the example.....

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16.