Love is often an excuse. People can do some pretty stupid things in the name of love. Don’t get me wrong. I like love, and I love my family and try to practice love wherever I go. However, love gets blamed for a lot of foolishness in the world.
He says, “But we’ve been dating for two years. We have so much in common. I know that she’s not a believer, but we love each other.”
She says, “I know he abuses me and the kids sometimes, but I don’t want to leave him. I love him.”
He says, “I moved in with her because we love each other.”
She says, “I don’t want a man. I want to be with her because we love each other.”
He says, “My wife is not meeting my needs. This lady at work is so understanding, and we love each other.”
She says, “Yes, we had sex because I love him. I mean, we’ve been dating for six months.”
Remember that God is love (1 John 4:8,16), so love—God’s kind of love—is submissive to God’s rule. Love gets blamed for many unwise things which are really rooted in infatuation, lust, and selfishness. God’s kind of love is interested in the best for the other person, not what’s in it for me. I definitely see my love falling way short of the ideal, but I try to let God’s Spirit lead me in the right way. I just take the reins oftentimes.
Dating non-believers, excusing physical abuse, cohabitation, homosexual relationships, and having sex outside marriage are all foolishness because they all disregard God’s express commands or wise principles.
Solomon was the wisest man in the world in his time, but He disregarded the Lord’s express commands. Solomon ignored the wise principles which God had given him. He allowed his heart to be ensnared by foreign women who worshipped other gods. He started well but ended weak, miserably weak. “King Solomon loved many foreign women…from the nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, ‘You must not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn your heart away to follow their gods.’ To these women Solomon was deeply attached in love….and they turned his heart away. When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been….Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not remain loyal to the Lord….The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded” (1 Kings 11 in The Christian Standard Bible).
Let’s not blame our lust, infatuation, and selfishness on love. So grade your love. Is it following God’s ways? Is it seeking the best for others?
This week you’ll read…
1 Kings 1-11: Solomon was a blessed king, and he had wisdom beyond compare. Sadly, however, he allowed himself to be led astray by his many foreign wives who worshipped other gods, and, as a result, the kingdom was split after his death.
Nehemiah 13: “Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin” (Nehemiah 13 in The Christian Standard Bible).
Esther 1-6: “Mordecai told the messenger to reply to Esther, ‘Don’t think that you will escape the fate of all the Jews because you are in the king’s palace. If you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will come to the Jewish people from another place, but you and your father’s family will be destroyed. Who knows, perhaps you have come to your royal position for such a time as this’” (Esther 4 in The Christian Standard Bible).
Psalm 77-83: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. But My people did not listen to My voice; Israel did not obey Me. So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own plans. If only My people would listen to Me and Israel would follow My ways, I would quickly subdue their enemies and turn My hand against their foes” (Psalm 81 in The Christian Standard Bible).
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CSB are daily readings linked to The Christian Standard Bible on BibleGateway.com.
MSG are daily readings linked to The Message Bible on BibleGateway.com.
NLT are daily readings linked to The New Living Translation on BibleGateway.com.
Thoughts on Life and Jesus 