Loved

5 The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. 1 Timothy 1:5

The one thing we all really want is love. We want to love and to be loved. We may try substitutes of all kinds but nothing else will do. What we really want sometimes seems unattainable.  It doesn’t seem like a big thing, but three big things keep us from it.

1. Who we are.
2. What we’ve done.
3. Where we’re headed.

We spend our lives trying to change these three things about ourselves. We know who we are and we know we are unloveable and incapable of really loving others. We know what we’ve done and no matter how deep we bury that or how much dirt we shovel into the hole, we can’t cover that up. We know that we are headed no where. We know that no one would be willing to join us on that hopeless journey.

As to number 1, who we are, we seem to have only a couple of options. We can improve ourselves or we can lie about who we are. The problem is that no matter how much self-improvement we attempt, we can’t ever get us the point of being truly loveable or selfless enough to truly love. We can lie and we can get pretty good at that but the lie is so big that it can’t survive forever. We are eventually found out.

As to number 2, what we’ve done, forgetting and lying are our options. Years can separate us from some of the things we’ve done and lying can help. The problem is that every day we add to the list of the seemingly unforgivable.

As to number 3, where we’re headed, the problem is we don’t know. It’s tough to get someone to be our companion on a journey to who knows where.

It’s no wonder that Paul’s life  became dedicated to spreading a gospel that makes love possible. He knew that knowledge of his Lord came with three things that made love possible: a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. The Lord can change who we are. He can change, as promised, our hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. He can make us creatures capable of love and of being loved. He can clear our past and our consciences. Only He can grant forgiveness that separates us from all that we’ve done as far as the east is from the west. Finally, He alone can give us a future that is worth sharing. He can give us the assurance that He can and will connect us with an eternal life with Him and all the others who follow Him.

Jesus gives all we seek and more. He gives us a purpose: to show others that it is possible to be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.

Thanks to Pastor T whose life and whose sermon today inspired this post.