A formerly rich but currently wise and lonely man declared “Beware the Ides of February”. It took him a lifetime to discover the truth that there is no amount money that you can spend on one day to prove that you love someone. Love is best demonstrated by priceless expressions each day. When all his money was spent, he found himself alone because he didn’t cultivate his relationships with intimacy. He was preoccupied with external exhibitions of “love”.
As the world gears up for Valentine’s Day…Love is in the air and, for most of the East Coast, SNOW and Ice are on the ground. People are hectic as they search for Chocolates and Candies of all sorts. Many gardens are bare as florists have plucked every flower that they had to meet the demand of men young and old to give the “ladies in their lives” bouquets. Cards in all shades of pink and red flood the department stores, the grocery stores, the pharmacies and even the gas stations (each card is hoping to be selected so that it won’t be humiliated on 2/15 by having its value reduced by 50-75%).Yes…Love is in the air…Or is it???
When I woke up this morning, I did two things. Spent some quite time with the Lord and checked the word of the day. The word of the day today…no shocker is cupidity. I thought to myself, what the heck is “cupidity”. I thought maybe it had something to do with people being crazy over love, “love drunk”, deeply in love with someone etc. To my surprise cupidity actually means “Eager or excessive desire, especially for wealth; greed”. It has nothing to do with any characteristic that I would associate with real love.
Reflecting on the definition of cupidity did however lead me to think about the way “love” is put in action in the world today. Many people who say that they are looking for love are really motivated by cupidity. They are looking for someone to meet some material need or they are looking to add to their arsenal of attributes (I got a man or I got a woman etc). They are not looking to share their lives in an unconditional way with another person in an effort to usher that person into the arms of God, by allowing them to get a glimpse of the way He feels about them. If we are honest, we have done many selfish things in the name of “love”. We have all done something “good” thinking we would get something in return.
This kind of “love” always leads to a state of discontent. Love is not “reaching out” to “take in” and to hoard (as it is with cupidity). True love is about reaching within and pouring out and giving of yourself to God and to others. Once you come to a point of accepting God’s Love and demonstrating His Love in your life, you can begin to truly experience what it means to be content.
In my devotions this morning, two scriptures that I reflected on are:
Hebrews 13:5 “Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”
Philippians 4:11 “Not that I am implying that I was in any personal want, for I have learned how to be [a] content (satisfied to the point where I am not disturbed or disquieted) in whatever state I am.
I have learned that I can not find true contentment in my wife, my job, my material possessions or in any “human expression” of love that I may experience here on Earth. My true contentment is found in the assurance that God loves me and that He will never fail me or abandon me. I can only be fully satisfied in Him alone and I no longer have to search for the next “love high”, which will just leave me empty and searching like a fiend chasing the next fix.
As the world tries to express in one day what can only truly be conveyed over a lifetime, choose to find your contentment not in the truffles, the flowers, the edible arrangements, the jewelry, the romantic dinners, the cards etc. for those things are temporary. Find your contentment in the true and eternal Love that God has for you and allow His Love to be The Motivating Factor in all you do.
Make this 2/14 less about Cupid and more about real Love. Enough of the cupidity!!!
Be Blessed,
B
