Love is Indispensable

I know what you're probably thinking. That title doesn't sound good, in fact it sounds like another ignorant millennial statement. But let me explain. I came across a video earlier today with the exact same title. In short, it was about a man who was worried about getting married. He was seriously dating his best friend of 10 years, but started to worry about things like, "Is she going to make me happy?" and "Am I ready for marriage?" He told his father about his insecurities with the concept of marriage, and his father responded with, "Marriage is not for you. You don't marry to make yourself happy, you marry to make someone else happy. Marriage is not about you. Marriage is about the person you married." Reading this really got me thinking. Marriage absolutely shouldn't be about yourself, because true love is selfless. If you truly love someone, their happiness is one of your top priorities. You WANT to provide for them and do anythi...

Luke 15 3-7  3 Then Jesus told them this parable:   4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?   5  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders   6  and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’   7  I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. This passage really hit home for me recently. I never thought it would, because it was just another parable I learned about in Sunday School when I was growing up. This story may be surprising to some of you, but I feel that it is something many of us have gone through at some point in our lives. College has been such a stressful, crazy, fun, and drastic changing point ...

We hear the phrase, “Life is short, make the most of it” pretty much everywhere nowadays. Even as Christians, we sometimes hear this phrase from the pulpit on Sunday mornings. The phrase has different meanings, based on each person’s desires, ambitions, and past experiences. I’m writing this to tell you my story on how God not only saved my life (physically and spiritually), but also how God changed my perspective on the purpose of life. At a young age of 7 years old, I was a bubbly, energetic gymnast with a “cute” bob haircut. At that age, I saw myself continuing to master the skills of a gymnast into my high school years. But God had a completely different plan for me. A couple weeks before my first day of second grade, my mom took me to my pediatrician’s office, which turned out to be a diagnosis of strep throat. Two weeks and a bottle of antibiotics later, I still wasn’t better. On my first day of second grade, instead of walking into my new classroom, I walked back into the ...

             I've come to realize that while we know that nobody's perfect, we still seem to expect people to be. We say "I don't judge others", "I'm not judging you", and "Only God can truly judge us". I've said that to many of the people closest to me. They say, "Quit judging me," and I assure them that I'm not. How often, though, do we hear about someone making a decision or a mistake that is considered bad, inappropriate, or unorthodox and think, "Man, that was wrong. They shouldn't have done that. I can't believe they did that." We automatically judge them.             It's our human nature. We will judge people either willingly or subconsciously. After going through a tough break up recently, I've gone through thoughts like "Why didn't he treat me better?", "Why did he do that? He shouldn't have," and "If he would have just done things differently we would...

             I chose the title "Love is Indispensable" because I found it to be one of the least noticed titles in the Bible. The title represents 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. As I was up at 3 am on a Monday morning not being able to sleep, I was drawn to this passage. Mind you, I've read this passage many, many times. I always thought I knew what it was talking about. It's love, right? Yes, but it's much more than that.              As Christians, we can basically come to an agreement that God's love is unconditional and unfathomable. But my study revolved around a human, fleshly understanding of love written by a man.  I couldn't help but think I was drawn to this passage because of recent circumstances in my life that have me questioning the human definition of love.              People tell us all the time that they love us. I myself tell people on a daily basis that I love...