Choosing to Love {Extravagantly}

I am beginning to read one of many books about marriage.  I am pumped!  I am currently reading Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas.  Daaaang I feel like each sentence hits me like a ton of bricks.  Mainly because it is the truth of the Gospel as it relates to marriage.  And goodness do I have so much to learn when it comes to loving others and following Jesus wholeheartedly.  This life is an adventure and we are constantly learning! 

The chapter I read this morning in Sacred Marriage was about "Learning to Love".  It covers the greatest commandments, Love God and Love Others.  And the truth that, if we are not loving others - we are failing to love God.  (1 John 4:20-21) 

What I read today fit in well to a conversation I had with my dear friend in South Africa via Skype yesterday.  (Praise the Lord for technology!) We were talking about how hard it is to love others sometimes and Kait mentioned a quote that stuck with her in one of our other friend's insta profiles.  "Love Extravagantly",  it is such a powerful picture of the love God desires for us to have for Him and for others & it is also a translation of 1 Corinthians 13:13 (MSG)! 

A few good nuggets of truth from Sacred Marriage: Ch 3. Learning to Love

• "Christian love...must be chased after, aspired to, and practiced."

• "The beauty of Christianity is in learning to love, and few life situations test that so radically as does a marriage."

• "Yes, it is difficult to love your spouse. But if you truly want to love God, look right now at the ring on your left hand, commit yourself to exploring anew what that ring represents, and love passionately, crazily, enduringly the fleshly person who put it there. It just may be one of the most spiritual things you can do."

Then I was reading a blog and it quoted my favorite quote from Tim Keller's The Meaning of Marriage.  I have the audiobook version and I remember listening to this quote and re-listening to it a few years ago thinking -- this is what I want to find.  We are imperfect people.  We mess up. We are selfish.  We hate when we want to love. We put ourselves before others.  And this quote is a powerful reminder of how to view "falling in love".  

• “Within this Christian vision for marriage, here’s what it means to fall in love. It is to look at another person and get a glimpse of the person God is creating, and to say, “I see who God is making you, and it excites me! I want to be part of that. I want to partner with you and God in the journey you are taking to his throne. And when we get there, I will look at your magnificence and say, ‘I always knew you could be like this. I got glimpses of it on earth, but now look at you!’” - Timothy Keller (The Meaning of Marriage)  

Another related quote from Sacred Marriage is: 

• "Marriage requires a radical commitment to love our spouses as they are, while longing for them to become what they are not yet.  Every marriage moves either toward enhancing one another's glory or toward degrading each other." - Dan Allender and Tremper Longman III.

I am praying for a continued love for God and love for my future husband, Charles :).  I am thankful for this new journey and for the opportunity to know the love of God more through the covenant of marriage.