Lite or Total

When my wife and I were just starting our spiritual journey together we lived in a small Kansas town.  Our first mentors in the Lord’s church were Vern and Donna.  They exemplified so well what a truly loving and committed couple could be.  Vern made a perceptive observation to us that we still remember.  He said, “One falls in lust, but grows in love.” I questioned that then but have found it to be more and more true as the years go by.

There are no doubt relationships that start out on “love at first sight” but probably are based more on physical attraction and involvement in common activities than on the model of 1 Cor 13.  Some people seem to be as much in love with love as with each other.  Some love what material things they can get from a spouse.  These and many other shared activities might be called “lite love.”  We have many lite products in our kitchen, everything from syrup and popcorn to soda pop.  That usually means that they have less salt, sugar and fat than the real deal.

Total love is also called agape love, which some have defined as Godlike love for humankind.  It is not the kind of love that comes naturally.  It is an infused and growing type of love.  My good friend Dave nearly died twice from cancer and had to undergo an excruciatingly painful bone marrow transfusion.  Consequently, he now has two sets of DNA within his body.  Something similar happens spiritually when one is immersed into Christ (Gal 3:26) (Rom 6:3-6).  As we allow Christ’s love to grow in our soul (2 Pe 3:18) we begin to understand His sufferings more and more (Rm 5:3) (Rm 8:17) (Php 3:10).  We are growing from lite to total love.  Jesus said that the greatest love is for one to, “…lay down his life for his friends” (Jo 15:13).  We may never have to be martyrs, but we are told that we, “…must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Lk 9:23) and “…Be faithful even to the point of death…” (Rev 2:10).  When we sing, “I LOVE YOU WITH THE LOVE OF THE LORD” we should realize that we can only do that by mixing our spiritual DNA with His.  May we all continue to move from lite love to total agape.

-Jim Bailey