Now that I'm near You,
I think I can hear You.
With your strength and wisdom,
I pray I will fear You.
When I'm on my own,
Or I feel alone,
Then I'll look to You,
and you'll call me home.
My sorrow and fear,
My anger and hate,
When I'm in Your presence,
Your fire cremates.
To You alone,
I'll hastily go,
For Your mercy and grace,
Like great rivers flow.
I'm my times of sadness,
In my plagues of doubt,
You give me wings, joy,
And a voice to shout:
"I love my God,
the creator of all!
With His own Son,
He conquered the fall!"
The fall of the world,
through Adam and Eve,
has brought forth a gift,
one hard to believe.
The betrayal of Judas,
In Gethsemane,
Which one day later,
Bought Christ Calvary.
And on His Cross,
as the Lord, my God, died,
His love for the world,
was then amplified.
What greater gift,
Can a man give his friends,
Then to lay down his life,
To abstain their ends.
So much greater,
This gift must be,
Then to lay down one's life,
For his enemy.
His enemies he loved,
Though they didn't love Him.
But to save them all,
His price paid was grim.
But that wasn't the end,
for our hero, friend, and Savior.
For, from death He rose,
three days later.
His sacrifice was true,
His motives were pure.
From sin and death,
He offered a cure.
But don't take it for granted,
This cure cost a price.
We're now given freedom,
From sin, anger, and vice.
And though offered freely,
Now don't get me wrong,
My soul was still captive,
'Til Christ came along.
My life is now His,
'cause He lives in my heart.
He purchased that space.
Here's the incredible part.
You cannot pay money,
nor gold, bronze, or mud.
So, to save my soul,
He paid with his blood.
Now I live my life,
On His turf, by His rules.
But listen to this,
Both the wise, and the fools.
He lived His commandment,
On which all others crawl.
He lived with LOVE,
And that's the greatest commandment of all.
~~~~~~~~
Love, it's amazing, isn't it? It's incredibly hard to define. Most of us experience at least some measure of love from our families, though not all.
I love my friends, though many would disagree with me, and much of the time, my actions say otherwise. I know that not everyone loves their friends, or at least not to the same level as I do.
So, what do I define love as? I would define it as a willingness to sacrifice everything, including, but not limited to your own life, for a friends well-being. This could be as simple as saving a seat at lunch, standing up to the school bully(ies) in regards to your friend, or...taking a bullet.
Christ showed this. He died for His friends. Us. Humankind. His sacrifice sets us free. All He DESERVES, not wants, in return is our willingness to do the same for Him. To give up everything.
Now, I believe most would say that Christianity is all about rules, and to a certain extent, it is about rules. But all of these rules sit on one with. Christianity is a religion about love. All the commandments are based on this.
To end this off, I'll quote my favourite Bible verse:
"Let all that you do, be done in Love".
1 Corinthians 16:14
Eric
