How much does it cost? That is the all-important question many of ask before we decide to get anything. From a stapler to a car, we want to know the price on the tag. Material items cost us something. What about non-material items? Does joy, peace, contentment and love have a purchase price as well? Or is it free and something we are just innately entitled to have? I have been convicted lately of not loving as I know I should. I have especially been thinking about the cost of love and its magnitude as I go along further in life and relationships.
Those aforementioned “items” do not cost you any money, so no need to feel anxious for your pocketbook. They do cost you something though, the one thing we consider most precious-ourselves. By ourselves, I mean our time, effort and will. To purchase love, the item I am most focused on here, you have to give yourself. The time to spend and be present with the one you intend to give and receive love from. The effort to exert to put their interests ahead of your own consistently. The will to press forward and keep giving even when that other person gives you absolutely no reason to keep giving.
A pastor at a church I used to attend said, “God wants us to be channels not reservoirs.” He used this phrase when talking about blessing others with what God blesses us with. This principle applies to those non-material items like love as it does material goods. God pours his love into you, you pour it back out to others, you are filled with the love they give back and you all ultimately pour it back out to God. Of course, people do not always give back so readily or sometimes not at all. However, God is infinite and so is his supply of love. I encourage you to tap into it today and start giving, start receiving. Do this in your relationships with your spouse, family, friends, significant others and strangers. Unlike those shopping trips, do not worry about running thin in this case. God already covered the tab on Calvary.
Take it in 