Is it to get things done? Is it to change the world? Is it to even make a difference?
Seems like a no brainer... Or is it?
Perhaps somewhere along the line, in the midst of knowing the right things, we've forgotten them in favor of what our thoughts and feelings tell us is the "right thing."
Sometimes we get to the point when we want to do the right thing, but we're so bogged down by how ineffective we think it might be. We might have been shut down so many times before in what we view as our sincere attempts to do the right thing. And though they may have been sincere, we may be discouraged because we feel like our attempts to love or serve the interests of others will be a failure.
But what determines failure?
I would say that with no goal, there is no failure.
But fear not... I'm not saying to not have goal, that would be boring and lame... not to mention wrong, but rather that we re-examine what the goal is. If the goal is for our love to change people's hearts and to melt them down into little energetic balls of "Oh my God I didn't see this before until you were here and now I love Jesus," then we greatly run the risk of failure. Even if our goal is a little more subtle and "attainable," like making someone's day better to the point of feeling either verbally or otherwise appreciated (because this is of course the only way to measure if we improved someone's life(sarcasm)), we run the risk of failure.
When our goals or purposes and expectations in our love and the right things we do are poorly aimed, we set ourselves (and others) up for disappointment, bitterness, and apathy.
So how do we properly aim and purpose love and those "right things?"
It would make some level of sense that we must understand what love is. I wonder if there is a place we could read some things on the subject. Maybe part of I Corinthians 13 could shed some light.
"...4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things..."
-God
What can we imply from this "go-to wedding passage?" Is it that we should be patient and kind and not envy or boast; that we should not be rude and all other manner of things that these verses say IF we come to a situation that would require it?
I say noooo noooo no. I'd say it's more of a "Love does these things" not a "If crap happens and things don't go the way you'd expect or want then do these things..." It's almost as if ...the missing "If"... means something. Maybe an implied "when" would be more appropriate.
If love inherently requires patience as a fundamental part of it's definition, it seems almost as if we could deduct that a life that exudes love WILL be faced with situations that require patience.
If love inherently includes not envying, insisting on its own way, not being irritable or resentful, bearing all things, hoping in all things, and enduring all things, it seems like a logical assumption that life IS filled with situations where envying, insisting on your own way, being irritable or resentful, not bearing, not hoping, not enduring would all be otherwise "normally" expected, even justifiable reactions. Because you see, all lives are faced with these situations, but it is only the life of love that reacts in such a way.
Love is more than exceptional, it IS the exception, and being the exception in life might lead someone to want to boast. But frettest thou not (King James Bonus). Such a situation is inherently and conveniently enough shot down in the definition of love.
It's almost as if God understood that situations where these would be normal, explainable, even JUSTIFIABLE reactions would inevitably arise in our lives.
So why then are we so hesitant to do the "right thing" to the extent that we either don't do it or redefine what it is to make it seem less risky and at times less "wrong?"
We live our own brand of selfish love (oxymoron much?) far too often. It is this brand of love that leaves us disappointed when even our sincere efforts go "awry." It is this brand of pretend love that asks the question, "Why would I even bother trying to love in a 'preposterous' way if it's not going to do any good?" It's this brand of pretend love that says "This never works," and leads us to, at times, painstakingly utter the exasperated plea, "What's the point?" (by the way triple word score on "exasperated")
You see my dearest friends and distant blog readers, it is this brand of love that is the most draining to have, because it is hypocrisy, and nothing drains the soul like a hypocritical form of the most important thing we could do. ... Wait how do I know it's the most important thing? There's that whole greatest commandment thing about loving God and loving people, but I digress.
Love should not be draining. How can love truly be draining if it "hopes in all things?"
Perhaps we need to more fully understand that doing the right thing and love have inherent values ENTIRELY independent of outcome, circumstance, or consequence. Maybe when we realize that the goal and aim of love is TO love (and obviously because it's what God values), not what love can accomplish, we can open the doors in our own hearts for to love more freely, forgive more freely, be free to accomplish more of what God intended all along. And isn't that kinda the point? (rhetorical question)
