Love...from One Generation to the Next
I do not think that any other generation spoke about love, experimented with it, exploited it and tried to define it more than mine. The all-inclusive 60's Hippie culture of love offered its off-beat, anti-establishment, contractless, drug-enhanced, mind-bending philosophy to everyone-freely, with no retraints or obligations. You could drop-in or drop out. It was at its zenith in my late teens and early twenties.
My response today is no different than when I first heard its offerings well over 50 years ago. You see, love clearly defined itself to me me at age eleven when I found the love of God personified though His Son, Jesus. Love continued to be defined as I grew in my Christian faith. I found love to be freer than anything offered by those who wore long hair, love beads, lived in communes and traveled in psychedelic-colored volkswagen buses. Under its tutelege, I dropped mean-spiritedness, jealous striving, confusion and bad choices. I found a forgiveness for my ways that I extended toward those who needed it from me. It is a commodity that never runs out.
Jesus' love does operate within retraints: it taught me to obey laws and fulfill my contracts ; encouraged me to pray for and love those who believe differently from me; and caused me to recognize and turn away from evil. It's obligations include loving God first and others as much as myself. The love of God has a much longer track record than any popular cultural philosophy.
So, standing on an ageless love, this now aged Christian woman wants to pass it on, not only to my children and grandchildren, but to this generation in which I am presently living. I encourage you to remain obligated to love God first and others as much as yourselves. Recognize evil by knowing what God says it is so you will not compromise with it. Pray for those who may not only disagree with you but try to persecute you for it. I send you my love...from one generation to the next.
My response today is no different than when I first heard its offerings well over 50 years ago. You see, love clearly defined itself to me me at age eleven when I found the love of God personified though His Son, Jesus. Love continued to be defined as I grew in my Christian faith. I found love to be freer than anything offered by those who wore long hair, love beads, lived in communes and traveled in psychedelic-colored volkswagen buses. Under its tutelege, I dropped mean-spiritedness, jealous striving, confusion and bad choices. I found a forgiveness for my ways that I extended toward those who needed it from me. It is a commodity that never runs out.
Jesus' love does operate within retraints: it taught me to obey laws and fulfill my contracts ; encouraged me to pray for and love those who believe differently from me; and caused me to recognize and turn away from evil. It's obligations include loving God first and others as much as myself. The love of God has a much longer track record than any popular cultural philosophy.
So, standing on an ageless love, this now aged Christian woman wants to pass it on, not only to my children and grandchildren, but to this generation in which I am presently living. I encourage you to remain obligated to love God first and others as much as yourselves. Recognize evil by knowing what God says it is so you will not compromise with it. Pray for those who may not only disagree with you but try to persecute you for it. I send you my love...from one generation to the next.
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