“Love Stinks!”

If you were a fan of  80’s music then the image of Adam Sandler in “The Wedding Singer” singing “Love Stinks” might put a smile on your face today.   

Today is Valentine’s day.  

There are skeptics as well as true dreamers out there.  Some who view this day as only a made-up holiday by companies to generate more income.  While others of you out there really get into the Valentine’s day “thing”…you love the heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, the flowers, the balloons and maybe a nice dinner out on the town.  

No matter how you view Valentine’s day, the fact of the matter is that love stinks. 

Some of you who are vehemently opposed to valentine’s day are probably cheering right now saying “That’s right, this day stinks!”…but let me clarify what I mean by “Love Stinks!” 

 

 

 

The Stink of Love

Have you ever hugged someone who was wearing a lot of perfume?  Have you ever come away from them smelling like that perfume? I’m guessing that you have.  You carry on in your day (post hug) and once in a while you catch a whiff of that perfume that is still on your shirt.  You’re carrying around you the smell of someone else…i’m not trying to be gross here but in essence you have taken a piece of them with you.  After all that is a fragrance that they have chosen to wear, it reminds you of them and it is stuck on your clothes.  -Sorry Gramma but it’s true.  

 

Love also stinks in another way.   

 

Jacob fell head over heals in love with Rachael.  He strikes up a deal with Rachael’s Dad Laban.  He will work seven years in order to get the love of his life and marry her.  He sweats and toils on that farm.  He works his butt off and finally when it’s time for the wedding, Laban tricks Jacob and he marries Rachael’s sister Leah instead.  I’m sure Jacob was angry and a little betrayed.  He had labored for seven long years for Rachael’s hand in marriage only to be duped by his new father-in-law.  

So what did Jacob do?  He didn’t cut his losses and settle for some other woman, he agreed to work for seven more years under is new father-in-law (the slime bag guy who just had tricked him into marrying his older daughter).  Now there is a deep cultural context that perhaps we’re missing here.  In Jacob’s day one could marry more than one wife…I know it’s not something we think of as normal, nor acceptable.  But Jacob loved Rachael and he was determined to marry her.  

He worked his butt off for another seven years…but this time he surely didn’t have a butt left.  But he had the stink of love on him for 14 years.  Can you image?  He didn’t give up.  He didn’t run away with the wife he had been tricked into marrying.  He stuck it out, worked like a dog, and won the hand of the woman he was so madly in love with.

Do you stink of love?

What would you do for the one you love?  What lengths would you go to make sure the love of your life was happy and with you?  Do you stink of love today?  Have you given up on love?  

 

God stinks of Love for YOU!

 God still asks us “Will you be mine?” He doesn’t want to play second fiddle in your life. He doesn’t want the left-overs of your love. He wants to be yours completely. With God it’s all or nothing.
He loves us so much that He went to the lengths of sending His one and only Son into this world – Jesus for us.  Romans 8:5 tells us just how much stink of love God has on Him for us – “For God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  He went to extreme lengths for us, and He would do it all over again if He had to.  

 

Do you stink of love today?  

Would you go to any lengths to ensure your love is intact? 

A Godly Kind of love on Valentine’s Day:

What does God want from us in return for His love? 

He wants our hearts.  He wants us to love Him back.  He wants us to allow Him to save us.  

This kind of love is so far above any kind of Earthly love.  This Agape (Godly) love comes without strings attached or conditions.  His love is freely given to us.  Will you receive it?  Will you give Him your love as well?

 

-Just a thought for today.