Post 06: love is learning
When I was in school, I hated to read. I wasn’t a fan of the books my professors gave us so I would just Spark Note the whole thing and pray that I passed. Though now that I’ve graduated, I’ve had more time to read the books I actually enjoy. It’s nice to separate from reality a little bit through a book rather than spending hours on my phone that serve me no purpose in the long run.
I’ve been reading this book by pastor Ben Stuart called “Single. Dating. Engaged. Married.” and before you ask - I am single and perfectly fine with that (for now, let’s not be dramatic). The book is about each of these stages of life and where God is in all of them, because He’s always there, we just might not seek Him out as much as we probably should.
Ben (if only we were actually on a first name basis) talks about learning to build a relationship with God before it’s truly possible to build a relationship with someone else, and if I hadn’t said last week that “following the peace” was the best advice I had heard … this would be it.
In the “Single” section of the book, he explains how this season is meant to help us grow closer to the Lord, that there’s actually a purpose to the single season, rather than just using it to long for a companion. We have so much time as single people to make a difference. We have time to give - to the community, to careers, to friends and family, and most importantly - to God. It’s up to us to use it wisely.
After Ben discusses the time that we have, he goes into ways of “pursuing devotion” and this is where he gives the readers the idea to read Philippans day by day and begin an ongoing conversation with God. He suggests taking a few verses each day and writing them down. Once written, start reflecting on your thoughts and takeaways. Challenge accepted.
Now I won’t lie, I haven’t done this every single day, but I’m working on it, okay? On this particular night, I was forcing myself to read and reflect because I was super tired and already in bed, but it was definitely worth it. After I wrote down Philippians 1:7-9, my own reflection caught me off guard … though before I get to that, I want to share what these verses say:
“It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains for defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight,”
I wrote that love brings knowledge and I had to pause for a second. Reread that.
I’ve always thought that in order to love someone, you must first know them … but that’s not how God sees it.
God loves everyone FIRST and then with love and through love, you are able to know someone. There shouldn’t be any preconceived ideas prior to love, it’s just knowing that the love will get you through any good and bad knowledge that you learn, because love is learning. Love is always evolving … just like us. We can fall in love with someone but unless we truly learn what love means, it won’t last. How can we say we love someone, but get upset with them for changing? It’s just human nature. We evolve. That is love. That is God showing us that even through all the changes we go through, He is constant.