About Me

Lagos, Nigeria
I am Godfearing, focused, matured, Loyal and a VIRTUOUS YOUNG WOMAN.

Monday, September 10, 2012

The Love Revolution



Hello friends, its been ages since i wrote anything here. I just came across an article i wrote sometime last year for an online christain site. I hope you like it.

THE LOVE REVOLUTION
By Brenda Paul

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)

Love is the emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In the philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion and affection. In the religious context, love is not just a virtue but the basis for all beings and the foundation of all divine laws.
The word Love can refer to a variety of different feelings, states and attitudes, ranging from generic pleasure to intense interpersonal attraction. Love can refer to the passionate desire and intimacy of romantic love to the sexual love of eros (the Greek word for love) to the emotional closeness of familial love or platonic love that defines friendship, to the profound devotion of religious love. Love most times is referred to as the “international language”, overriding cultural and linguistic divisions.
Revolution on its own is a sudden, radical and complete change from the ways things are normally done. They are usually ignited by one person or a very small group of people who are unwilling to continue living the way they have lived in the past.
From history we would see that the whole world at some point in time had gone through a revolution phase. Examples of such are the American Revolution, French Revolution, Bolshevik Revolution (Also, called the Russian Revolution), Industrial Revolution etc. All of these revolutions even if they led to the loss of many lives and even innocent ones, brought about a radical change in the lives of the people of those places.
With all said, we would go straight to our topic which is the Love Revolution. From our definitions of both words - Love and Revolution; Love Revolution would simply mean to bring about a drastic, radical and unselfish change into the lives of people around us (whether intimately or not).
We live in a time whereby people do not even know how to show love to their loved ones talk more of those who are regarded as strangers to them. The on gift God gave us(humans) that distincts us from all he created is “CHOICE”. The choice to choose GOOD not EVIL, the choice to love unconditionally, the choice to give without expecting anything in return, the choice to serve or not to serve without expecting to be praised.
Whatever problems are in this great country Nigeria is all as a result of lack of Love; for ones neighbor, ones people, ones justice system, ones laws of the land….etc.
There is violence everywhere in the world and people are not happy. As Joyce Meyers stated in her book “The Love Revolution”, the root and cause of the problems of the world is selfishness: someone saying “I want what I want and I am going to do whatever I need to do to get it”.  We all want to live and enjoy all the good things of life but fail to understand that, the God who created these good things, gave them to you for a purpose; to share and put a smile on someone’s face.
We need to love and show love to your neighbor, your child, colleague, stranger, friend and even your spouse. They need to see it and also feel it. Make Love an action not just mere words.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7(NIV) gives us what I would call the best definition of love - Love is Patient, Love is Kind. It does not envy, It does not boast, it is not proud, it is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps not record of wrongs, Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes and always perseveres.
Precisely, two month ago in the month of December, we celebrated the Christmas season, which most people refer to as the period to show love to the less privileged. Look deep down within yourself and ask this question-Who did you extend a hand of love to? We do not always have to wait for a period of celebration to show love or care to anyone. You can do it every day. It would not wear you down.
No man living on the surface of this earth is perfect but we al strive to be like Christ. I am also not perfect but one thing I know about love is, if you want the best out of someone or even out of a situation – show them some love or put some love into the situation and believe it me you would get the best.
Care for one’s self alone has led to the destruction of many lives. Today we find youths between the ages of 15-24 committing suicide there by allowing for the rates of suicides among the young ones to be more rapid than it has been in the past. This is all because they have no one to listen to them, talk to and with them, to share their problems with and ultimately to show them some love. So to them they allow the lies of the devil pave way and take their own lives.
The world looks at love as sexual love with people believing or saying that the only way one can show or feel love is through sex. My beloved, pleas this is a LIE which the devil has been using right from the time of old to deceive people. The bible says Love is not self-seeking, so why would love only be sexual in nature to be right or feel right. You do not need to be sexually involved with a man or woman to experience that glorious feeling called love. One thing is sexually relationships begat insecurities. Love is patient so if he or she loves you they would be patient.
This month of February is referred to as the month of Love because of Valentine’s Day (a day people celebrate without knowing the origin). Get out of your comfort zones and do something different than you have been doing in the previous years, share and show love to someone/anyone who is in need of love (I do not mean sexually now). Be the change everyone is looking for, do not wait for others to do something before you decide to do anything.
Joyce Meyers (my favorite author) outlined in her book “The Love Revolution”; 18 things the bible says we can and should do for one another:
1.      Watch over one another
2.      Pray for one another
3.      Be mindful to be a blessing
4.      Look for kindness we can express to others
5.      Be friendly and hospitable
6.      Be patient with one another
7.      Bear with others’ faults and weaknesses
8.      Give others the benefit of the doubt
9.      Forgive one another
10. Comfort one another
11. Be faithful
12. Be loyal
13. Build up one another-encourage others, reminding them of their strengths when they feel weak
14. Be happy for people when they are blessed
15. Prefer one another(let someone go ahead of us to give them the best something)
16. Consider one another
17. Keep people’s secrets and don’t tell their faults
18. Believe the best of one another
As a child one very important lesson my mother taught my siblings and I is to always show love to anyone regardless of their status because only God knows tomorrow. Do not think of what you would achieve in return or gain. Love unconditionally. Let us learn from God himself. He paved the way of love for us by sending his only son to die for us just to redeem us from our sinful ways. So if God could do it, who are you - mere man who would not want to love. Love conquers all. You can save someone from committing suicide or even committing a gravely sin (abortion, adultery, prostitution, Homosexuality, etc).
With all said and done I pray for you that God gives you the Grace with a heart to love and a heart to be the change of this new generation. Be the difference in this world unlike the world our parents or fore fathers left behind for us. Start something today, start from your homes, neighborhood, your schools, your offices, etc. Let us all start, develop and be the Love Revolution of this generation.
To conclude this write up I leave you with these words which I have made my creed and suggest you do same:  
I take up compassion and surrender my excuses.
I stand against injustice
and commit to live out simple acts of God’s Love.
I refuse to do nothing. This is my resolve.
I AM THE LOVE REVOLUTION