November 24th

November 24th -- 1 Corinthians 13

Please read the chapter! It's only short, and very beautiful!

LOVE this passage. (Catch the joke? I know, not funny. I'm sorry... ) It's a beautiful description of love.
Today, I feel, often, love is sex and sex is love. We've been told that sex is proof of love - if they love you, they'll have it with you. That's what we see every time we turn on the TV, pick up a magazine, open up the internet browser, or even walk down the street in town and are barraged by signs advertising such things as strip clubs. We are told they are the same. That love is sex and sex is love. One leads to the other. That's what so many people are brainwashed to believe, meaning so often, when they wake up that next morning to another body beside them in bed, they are left confused as to why nothing has changed. Let me try and show you a few of the differences, from the perspective of a somewhat naïve Christian teenage girl.
Sex is just one night. Or a few.
Love is forever.

Sex is easy and gets easier with practice.
Love is hard and never gets any easier - it just has to overcome more trials.

Sex does not require growth - it can happen anywhere with anyone.
Love needs to be grown - it doesn't just happen overnight (even if we've been told the right night with the right person can make it).

Sex leaves "warm fuzzy feelings" but those fade after a time.
Love leaves scars and bruises but it also leaves an unexplainable warmth that doesn't go away.

Sex is just a field of flowers - no threats, no dangers, no worry, no pain. Just easygoing.
Love is peddling uphill. It's gonna' take a lot to get there, but you'll get there, and when you do, it will be worth it.

Sex is; now, unforgiving, jealous, prideful, boasting, rude. It wants things done its way and will remember when its not. It will walk away at any time, giving up or in, and cannot stand through trials.
Love is; patient, kind, humble, polite. It wants things done for the good of the other, and does not remember if it had been wronged. It will not walk away, never giving up or in, and it can stand through trials.

Sex is about "me".
Love is about "you".
Without love, we are nothing. Not without sex, we are nothing. Without LOVE we are nothing.
So do yourself a favor and remember love is not sex, and sex is not love. It's natural to want to have sex with someone you feel you really love - that's okay, it's how God made us, but, make sure it stays within His boundaries for its creation. Marriage. Save it for the ring, folks. Save it for the person who you can love enough to sacrifice things your whole life for... and for the person who can do the same for you. Don't confuse the two, please... Love is NOT sex... and sex is NOT love.

God bless! Shalom!