Psalm 116

"I love the LORD, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live." -Psalm 116:1-2

Spurgeon makes an excellent point here: we are prone to love the unworthy, those who wrong us or will betray us, those who may love us for shallow reasons or because we are useful or valuable to them in some capacity.

"The Psalmist not only knows that he loves God, but he knows why he does so. When love can justify itself with a reason, it is deep, strong, and abiding. They say that love is blind; but when we love God our affection has its eyes open and can sustain itself with the most rigid logic."  -Spurgeon, Treasury of David

In contrast, our love for the Lord is different; it erupts as a proper response to Him first loving us:

"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19

Human love is more like this---high on lofty emotion, romantic, but fickle in the end.

His love is superior because it is characterized by action, not mere words. He loved us at a
cost to Himself, the cost of alienation from the Father. Because His love was concrete, our love is also to be concrete to others, not words, but actions and deeds:

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." 1 John 3:18

Human love is watered down by our ulterior motives and limited capacity to be selfless. I think this is why we live in a culture permeated by divorce, where parents place their rights to "face time" with their children above the rights of the children to a stable and balanced life, where adults "fall" out of love and leave the spouse of their youth by the wayside in their pursuit of self-fulfillment and personal happiness no matter the cost.

It's ironic that Christ then points us back to ourselves, to Christians and to loving each other as the hallmark of faith. I think He knew it'd be easier in many ways to love God than to love man, but that's our calling:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13: 34-35

Out of all of our callings, this one seems one of the most comprehensive and difficult to walk out. Love takes energy. Love takes patience. Love must persevere.

The apostle John has a vice grip on this message of love--it resonates through his gospel and letters over and over again. I wonder what John was like as a person--the warm tone of his letters intrigues me. I love the reason and tenacity of Paul, but I think I'd rather spend long lingering time with John. He strikes me as easy to be around, compassionate.