Love Without Limit

"I absolutely love, love my life. Every year seems to get better for me," said International Bible Teacher Francis Chan in a speech at Liberty University encouraging believers to cultivate an intimate relationship with God that they share with both believers and non-believers in their every day, ordinary lives.

Chan's message is in agreement with Gospel Singer Kim Burrell's song "Sweeter." Burrell sings, "Every day is sweeter, sweeter than the day before, learning how to love you more . . . . The more I get to know ya', know ya', find out that you're so good for me . . . . You're good on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday . . . . Every day makes me want to add another day to my week cause you're so sweet.

God's sweet is too good to keep to ourselves. 1 Juan 3:16 Dios Habla Hoy Biblia dice, "Conocemos lo que es el amor porque Jesucristo dio su vida por nosotros; así también, nosotros debemos dar la vida por nuestros hermanos." 1 John 3:16 Contemporary English Version Bible says, "We know what love is because Jesus gave his life for us. That’s why we must give our lives for each other."

Some people falsely think that love has a limit. When Hollywood Actor Lauren Bacall discovered she was pregnant, she excitedly told her husband, Hollywood Actor, Humphrey Bogart. Bogart cried. "What's wrong?," she inquired. Bogart responded, "I'm happy, but I'm also very sad." Bogart said his joy was mixed with sadness, "Because once you have a child, I'll never be as important to you as I am now."

While some spouses do neglect their spouses when children are added to the family, God didn't design His love inside of believers to express itself this way. Marital love takes priority over parental love while simultaneously, extravagantly loving spouse and children.

Our children are important, but we don't cleave to them. One day they will form families of their own or branch out into single adulthood. Genesis 2:24-25 Amplified Bible says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and shall become united and cleave to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not embarrassed or ashamed in each other’s presence." Genesis 2:23-25 the Message Bible says, "The Man said, “Finally! Bone of my bone,flesh of my flesh! Name her Woman for she was made from Man.”Therefore a man leaves his father and mother and embraces his wife. They become one flesh. The two of them, the Man and his Wife, were naked, but they felt no shame."

Sometimes we close our hearts when God wants to increase our capacity to love Him, ourselves and other people. In addition to developing vibrant relationships with our children, having children is supposed to increase the love between husband and wife. Godly love is a multiplier. Division is of the devil.

Jesus Christ is not arrogant, but He is certainly confident. When Christ added apostles and other disciples to His life, Christ was not diminished as a person, neither were His original relationships diminished by adding new ones.

God seeks to make us like Him. We have corrupt ideas about companionship. Reading, studying, meditating on God's Word, the Bible, and talking to God about His Bible is a primary way that God teaches us to love Him, ourselves and other people. Second Corinthians 3:16-18 the Message Bible says, "Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We’re free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him."

We want to be loved by the people we share a relationship, and we will often say and do things to indicate how we want to be loved. Some times our loved ones miss the message. An Egyptian saying for this type of miscommunication is, "A thousand raps at the door, but no salute or invitation from within."

Sometimes we miss the plea for love because we expect other people to be like us. Yet no two people, even twins and other multiples, are the same. Like we study God in the Bible, and talk to Him about what He has to say, we have to study people and talk with them about what they have to say. Then empowered by the Holy Ghost, give love the way it can be received.