Love

I was reading this morning in my devotions about Christian men in the home.  A section of what I read (from Tabletalk magazine) really stuck out to me and I wanted to share it.

 

"There was once a Christian counselor who met with a man who was having difficulty in his marriage.  WIth sensitvitiy to the man's concerns, the counselor told him the answer was to love his wife just as commanded in Ephesians 5:25.  The troubled husband replied that he just could not do that since he felt no affection toward his wife.  Seeing the problem the man faced, the counselor then said the solution was for the man to move next door to the house his wife was living in.  This perplexed the husband until the counselor said that if he was having trouble loving his wife, he might have an easier time loving his neighbor (Matt. 19:19).  At this the man grew incensed, exclaiming that the counselor just did not understand how much he had grown to hate his wife.  The counselor replied that the situation was finally clear to him and that all the man needed to do was to love his enemy.  (5:43-48).

    What is revealing about this encounter is how our culture's conception of love differs from the biblical view.  The husband accepted the cultural conviction that love equals feeling affection and is something that happens to us outside of our control.  Scripture, however, teachest that love is primarily an action, something we do more than something we feel."

 

Love is a choice.  How different our churches and our homes would be if we all lived accordingly.