One of our frustrations with love is our complete inability to keep it. Like send slipping between our fingers, the harder we grasp the faster it seems to fall through. It would be batch of cookies or building a bird house for backyard; a simple set of ingredients, a logical list of steps to take. But we all know the truth; love cannot be manufactured. It cannot be forced. It cannot be controlled. It cannot be plotted on a map or broken down into a checklist of to do's.
HERE IS THE SEVEN STEPS TO FIND TRUE LOVE
1. Love Requires You to Reveal Your True Self to Another
We use the word love to describe a lot of things. We love food. We love music. We love a good joke and we love having a good time. Using love to describe such simple things makes the word seem a little safer. It is safe because we are not exposed. A great cup of coffee cannot reject us. A song from our favorite band does not leave us feeling useless. But when we choose to share our life with another person, we inevitably make a choice to become vulnerable. Unfortunately, vulnerability leaves our defenses down and often we get hurt.
2. Finding True Love Can Be Difficult
True love goes beyond the passion of romance and even finding a partner for the sake of being married. While romance and having our needs met for provision and security are important, there is more that we must discover.
3. Your Need for True Love Reveals Your Need to Be Loved Unconditionally
Honestly, true love has never really been about romance or passion at all. It is about truth and value. It is about vulnerability and acceptance. It is about wholeness and finding peace. It is about discovering a foundation on which we can build our lives and on which we can place our hope and confidence. It is about feeling like we are worth something. It is about sharing vulnerability and in the midst of it, feeling loved unconditionally.
4. True Love is Complicated by Our Self-Interest
Let me tell you a secret that you probably know already but are not willing to admit. Unconditional love, the kind that pours meaning and significance into your life, is hard to find in another human being because we are all too self-interested and too self-motivated. Our hearts are bent toward protecting and promoting ourselves. It is not hard to see! We live in a culture that constantly measures every relationship by what we get out of it. We stay married only as long as it is benefiting us. We commit to a relationship only until something better comes along. The success of our relationships is measured by our need for love being met, instead of seeking to meet the need for true love in others.
5. There is Only One Source of True Love
Do you realize what that means? In Jesus, you are fully known and still fully accepted. Jesus is under no allusions. He knows exactly who you are. His love is not something you earned or deserved, yet here He is offering it to you. No one knows you better, and no one could possibly love you more. He gave his life for you. And now, He is willing to take the journey with you, from where you are, to where you need to be in Him; so that you can experience true love
6. Accepting Jesus’ Love Opens the Door to a New Life
Learning to live and grow in the love of God can be a process, as you throw off the old nature and ways of thinking, and put on God’s love and right way of living. The world around us is constantly trying to challenge you, and to pull you back. But, every single day, Jesus continues to express His love as an alternative. All that is left is for you to make a choice.
Are you ready to make a life-changing decision to follow true love and to be loved unconditionally? God is the source of our value and our hope. Nothing you face in this life will shake loose the love of God.
7. Your Search for True Love Begins with This Simple Prayer
Your journey for true love and to be loved unconditionally begins with a simple prayer. Would you read and believe this prayer with me?
"God, right now I’m experiencing deep hurt and rejection. I realize that I have spent much of my life trying to find love and value in the wrong places. I don’t want to go on living like this. Forgive me for trying to find my own way. Forgive me for neglecting You. I thank you that even before I was aware of it, You were demonstrating Your love for me in Jesus’ death. I thank You that His death offers me a way to know You and to experience Your love. God, fill my heart with a sense of your love. Help me to realize that you are the source of my worth and value. I trust you with my life and my broken heart. Heal it. Help me to turn to you, and worship you. Amen."
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