The Sport principle:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Imagine being a child supporter of Manchester United, whose first game at Old Trafford was the 5-0 defeat to Liverpool earlier this season. All your short life, you\u2019d have looked forward to an experience that should have been a happy memory for the rest of your life, but it was forever ruined by that result! Or what about the child Liverpool fan, who couldn\u2019t get a ticket for the game at Old Trafford, but instead turned up to his first Liverpool game at Anfield full of expectation the week after a 2-2 draw with Brighton! How gutting would that be! \u00a0But it doesn\u2019t have to be that way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Application to life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How many times have we allowed a bad experience to sour an otherwise memorable and happy day? Sport is just one example of this. Experts tell us that our memories, even happy ones, can be over-ridden by the strength of our feelings. Put another way, our \u2018experiencing self\u2019 is stronger than our \u2018remembering self.\u2019 So, what does this mean for us? As men of God, we need to get a grip on our feelings and see them in the right perspective. Our feelings are simply ways of us internally processing external stimuli. They are fine in and of themselves, but the difficulty comes when we put too much emphasis on them. The sooner we realise this, the better off we\u2019ll be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
LOVE IS NOT A FEELING!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wrote that with \u2018caps lock\u2019 on deliberately, because although that short sentence is not rocket science, you\u2019d think it was, due to the number of men who over-endorse their feelings at the expense of the truth. Love is a choice, made cold, sober, clinical and daily, nothing more, nothing less. We love our wives and stay faithful to them for the same reason that others engage in adulterous extra-marital affairs \u2013 we choose to! Often our language doesn\u2019t help us here. We say: \u201cOh, I fell in love with her!\u201d Well, if you can fall into love, you can fall out of it, and many of us stumble from relationship to relationship all our lives, believing this lie. As soon as the feelings wear off, and biologists tell us that takes about 9-12 months tops in any relationship, we\u2019re off, suitcases in hand, to find someone else to have feelings with. And the sad thing is, we\u2019ll find someone, and the cycle will happen again. The truth is, love has nothing to do with falling at all. We choose to love our families, whether we feel like it or not. And we don\u2019t always feel like it. Sometimes, we are called to love in spite of (you fill in the blank), not because of (_______). When we get up first thing in a morning, we don\u2019t always feel<\/strong> like we love our wife and kids, but that doesn\u2019t change the fact<\/strong> that we do love them. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is helpful when we consider the love of God. Jesus\u2019 love for us caused Him to choose the Cross \u2013 the most gruesome method of execution human beings have ever dreamed up in their sick minds. Not much gooey sentimentality there. I\u2019m so glad that God\u2019s love for me does not rise and fall with my loveliness to Him. I\u2019m often not very lovely, or lovable at all, yet God\u2019s love is unconditional. Have you ever considered the mind-blowing truth that God knows you completely (every little thing you don\u2019t want anyone to know about, God knows all about it) and He still loves you unconditionally anyway! I\u2019ve long ago settled that when I watch Accrington Stanley or Rochdale Hornets with my son, I\u2019m not going to give those players power over my happiness. I\u2019m determined to enjoy the game, win lose or draw. And we can do the same with every aspect of our lives. Today, we can choose to love because God first chose to love us, and demonstrated His love for us by dying on the Cross for us while we were still lost in our sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBut God demonstra<\/em>tes his own love for us in this:\u00a0While\u00a0we\u00a0were\u00a0still\u00a0sinners, Christ died for us.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romans 5:8<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Image credit: Jeremy Perkins via Unsplash<\/p>\n