CAN LOVE LIVE AGAIN?

That question presumes several other questions. Firstly; was love ever dead at any point in time, and secondly is love something that holds the capacity to live or die? My heart runs this way; follow if you will.

The Bible tells us that God is love. Further, the Bible tells us that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was actually God; and somewhere in our time that Word became flesh and bone and lived here on the planet. So a fair assumption can be made that if God is love, so too God is the Word, and the Word is Jesus, therefore Jesus is love. Make sense?

It does to me, but let me further elaborate. The question is: Can Love Live Again? And I would say the answer is YES, but only in and of Christ, who is one with God the Father. But a “yes” to that question could leave the rest of us hanging out to dry and not being able to live the answer to the question. And that wouldn’t be good. So for the rest of us, let me unequivocally say: Love Can Live Again, and does so this very moment.

Love is written about or sung about, but more often than not, it’s not real love. It’s just a grotesque facsimile of the real thing. But definitely not real love. So if and when we experience the death of love, or what we think is or was love, we’re really just experiencing the extinguishing of a grotesque facsimile.

Easter is a special time for many people. Lots of candy, dyed eggs, new clothes, early breakfasts at church, nice abbreviated church services so as not to offend the twice a year attendees. And then Monday comes, and we’re back to dead love again.

You see, the day called Easter comes and goes and few really believe that love died, let alone believing it was resurrected to answer the question: Can Love Live Again. For most, the question remains moot and lyrical at best. But I believe Love died on that tenebrous Friday. Love was in the grave for three days and on that third day boldly came forth to prove the answer to our question.

I know my question may seem trite and almost blasphemous to some, but throughout the human experience we have all or will eventually experience the death of love for one simple reason. And that is so we can feel, for a brief time, what our humanity is really missing. All the while we end up gravitating back to that grotesque facsimile of human love, while real Love waits; ALIVE AND WELL.

Why do we humans fall so far into the false that we resent the Real when it reaches its nail scared hand out to lift us up? I would say we simply do NOT believe love can live again.

Yes, we are love skeptics. We’ve known nothing but lies and shadows, so when the Real thing actually shows up, we simply struggle to believe; ergo the power of belief.

If you have ever experienced the death of love, let me tell you, you’re not alone. For part of the greatest gift that God gave us was His personal experience of Love dying. The container that housed Love on earth was put to death, by people like you and me. And in the very hour of that mortal hemorrhage, Father God had to turn away, as Love died for the very ones who pulled the trigger.

One of the greatest qualities of Father God, is that He loved us so much, that He actually let Love die, so It could live again, and again, and again… in us. I simply can’t get my mind around that level of devotion. But it does answer the question: Can Love Live Again.

May I tell you today; if you believe that love IS dead, don’t stop there; take the premise a bit further, yes Love died, but He lives again, right now. And you can experience the power and breadth of such a Love; a Love that has seen death from the inside out. He can relate to your pain, because He’s been there and done that, and likely even got the t-shirt to prove it.

This Easter Sunday, forget the candy, the pomp and circumstance, the once a year suit and tie visit to your least favorite church, and remember this: LOVE LIVES! That’s right, that’s what Resurrection Sunday is all about. A Living Love that has tasted death, but NOW LIVES. And desires to explode within you so as to prove the answer to the question: Can Love Live Again.

As I was driving today, I blew past a telephone poll with the above pictured sign stapled to it. It caught me so off guard I had to turn around and take a phone picture of it. No joke, right there on Hubbell Ave and E. 32nd, the Easter message and answer to my blog title. I LOVE YOU.

If you get nothing else from this weekend, get that: I LOVE YOU. I love you exists in our vocabulary because the answer to the question was a resounding affirmative!

Can Love Live Again? Yes it can and yes it does, but only IN CHRIST. So go find Love this Sunday; not another dyed egg or marshmallow Peep. For He IS LIVING PROOF that Love Lives Again!