Some four letter words scare us. Some of them can offend us. Ours is a day when the four letter word with all the adjectives, adverbs and prepositions attached are far too common. You can't hardly go to any movie without hearing them. You can't watch television without being surprised at what they can say now. Music is far too often a litany of four letter language that bombards our brains. Many years ago George Carlin did his hysterical yet very profane monologue on the words you can't say on television. He lived to see most of those words used on a constant basis. Four letter words are usually not a good thing. But sometimes they are a necessity.

We use four letter words in church. Pray is four letters long. Give is four letters long. Love is a four letter word. Are we scared of using those? Maybe if we knew more about what those words really mean we would not be quite so hesitant. Deuteronomy is the Old Testament textbook on love. Chances are that biblical book is not on your "must read" list. Change that as soon as possible and read it. Focus in on chapters 4-13 to zero in on what God says about His love and ours. Finish up in chapter 30 where He closes with a summary of what love is all about. You may find yourself gaining a fresh perspective on love.

You will read of God saying that He loved His people before they were even aware of it. You will discover how He ties all of His activity to His love. You will find that God desires more than anything else that we love Him the most. Think about it in this way. Of all the activities that are central to our spiritual health the number one concern is our heart for God. Too often we are like the church in Ephesus that John describes in the Revelation. We are busy, biblical, bold yet we can be barren without love. Even Paul mentions the absolute ingredient in our spiritual walk to be that of love. He goes so far as to say that without love even the greatest of spiritual gifts is for nothing.

Four letter words like love are risky. You have to choose to love. The more that I read about love in the scriptures the more it sounds like love is not naturally in our nature. Love is a gift that we receive from God first and foremost. We will never be able to give to others what we do not receive from Him. We cannot receive from God if we are too proud to admit we need it. And so we begin that journey from pride to humility where love is a constant. God already took the first step. Now we each have to do the same. Will we?

Bro. Trey