seeking agape

corycopeland:

This guest post comes from my buddy, Jake Dudley. Jake is a writer and speaker who does a fantastic job of showing what God’s love is all about.
You can find more of Jake’s writing on his blog at www.JakeDudley.tumblr.com. Also, follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/JakeDudley.

I’ll be back writing tomorrow. Thanks for reading.
-C 

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I love love.

Like I REALLY love love.

And if that means I have to turn over my man card to some manly council who wears Ed Hardy, listens to Nickelback, and drives a Mustang, then so be it.

Love is a beautiful thing. And to be honest, sometimes it can be a bit of an unhealthy obsession for me.  For instance: at a church-related college gathering of any kind? I’m on the prowl. Walking into Chick-fil-A? Swag=on (because let’s be honest, all bombshell Christian girls eat at CFA). Friend’s birthday party? You better believe I’ve already noticed who has clicked “attending” on Facebook.

So there you have it: the sad, vulnerable confessions of a lovesick 24-year-old.

Am I ashamed of these facts about myself? NO! (Ok, maybe a little) But the truth is, in some form or fashion, we’re all looking for a little love and acceptance.  We’re all seeking someone who can relate to us, meet us where we are, love us in spite of our junk and do so without any expectations.

Because that’s what love is, right?

True, Biblical love is acceptance, grace, honor, and trust—among many other things—that you give to someone without having expectations of receiving anything in return. And you give it all no matter what.

And that’s where my love for love stops me dead in my tracks; because I just can’t seem to wrap my measly little brain around that fact.

I’m supposed to give those things and expect NOTHING in return?

Now, I don’t know about you, but I have a confession to make: when I first meet someone and date them, my first thought is not, “I’m going to give this person every ounce of grace and love and honor and trust I possibly can. It doesn’t matter if they give nothing in return!”

In fact, selfishly, it’s usually the opposite.

I’m USUALLY thinking about how attractive she is, her style, her music taste and what all that means for my image. Or I sometimes think about how badly I need someone who puts me in my place from time to time. Then my thoughts take me to hoping she is better with money and schedules than I am so that she can handle all the aspects of life I’m no good at. You know…once we get married.

And that, my friend, is where we can get it terribly wrong.

This kind of love is so selfish. This is not real love. It is a dangerously fictional idea of love. And it has become so packaged by Hollywood that now, those of us who are recipients of the TRUE love of Jesus Christ, have begun to believe in the fraudulent love that society is screaming at us to embrace.

We must end this epidemic.

True love is scraping at the walls of our hearts anxiously struggling to escape.

The heaviness you feel when you see a child dying of starvation? That is LOVE. Do something with it. The desire you have to be fought for and chosen? LOVE. Don’t settle for anything different. The joy you get when surrounded by people who empower and uplift you? LOVE. Surround yourself with it. The brutal death Jesus experienced in order to give you life? LOVE! Surrender to it.

I no longer desire to love the kind of love that culture tells me I deserve. From now on, I desire a love that is everlasting; a love that doesn’t fit the mold of normalcy and throws away all sense of reason.

So do I still love love? Yes. But I love the love that Jesus died for me to experience; the kind of love that requires me to give it to other people with no expectation.  The kind of love that requires me to get off my butt, unfold my hands and usher others, whether my friends, my co-workers or the girl I’m dating, into the Kingdom of God.

“We must end this epidemic.”