These days the phrase “I love you” is being misused. It is used too many times in the place of “I want what I can get from you” and causes all kinds of problems. The confusion is made worse when advertisements tell us what we must buy someone to show we truly love them; movies portray unrealistic views of what you get if someone really loves you; and people put on a show of what they want people to think their relationship is like. All of this has resulted in self-centered people being disappointed when they don’t get what they expected from their love life.
Shallow men pledge their undying love, but that “love” dies shortly after they get what they want or get tired of what they got. Dealing with another person’s wants and needs wasn’t what they had in mind.
Silly women see love as the way to make their dreams come true. Whether they want the perfect mate or just freedom from their old life, they set themselves up for disappointment.
I know two couples who have a “giving kind of love.” One couple is our Pastor Ricky and Jean Yambing. When they first met in a ministry training event, it wasn’t “love at first sight,” but they did remember one another. GOD told Pastor Ricky that he would marry Jean and helped them get together. They didn’t marry for money, neither had any; and it wasn’t youthful passion, because they weren’t that young. They love the LORD and though they work full time jobs to make a living, their life is in the ministry. They have been married for 15 years and are spiritual parents to a small Filipino congregation in Beijing. They are beautiful people that love the LORD, and their beauty won’t fade, and neither will their love for the LORD or each other.
I frequently see another loving couple on Facebook. The husband keeps posting new profile pictures of himself and his lovely wife. They have many admirers and get dozens of “Likes” and complements about how beautiful they look together. They post romantic pictures and love notes, to rave reviews from their fans around the world. Who are these modern-day lovebirds? They are our former Missionary Pastor Richard and Sherry Dunn. They recently celebrated 45 years of marriage, and have traveled the world, loving one another and raising their family while doing GOD’s work. They are Godly examples of that “giving kind of love” to us all.
I suggested both Pastors should write their love stories, but I only partly meant the love between them and their wives. The greatest example of “the giving kind of love” is that “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).”
Wayne Lance (2015) – That’s Good News to Share!