A Most Delightful Sunrise

I do not particularly delight in the month of February in Michigan.  I try....seriously, when I say I try...I put forth a good amount of effort to find lovely things in life.  So, I cannot name as many "likes" in February as I can in other months, but I LOVE THE SUNRISES.  In February, they are occurring as I commute to work and so many days they are so spectacular as they light up the sky.  The light hitting the snow is sometimes blinding, it is so brilliant!

Love Does Not Delight In Evil But Rejoices With The Truth.

This is an interesting part of the "love is" scriptures to me because it is contrasting evil and truth...(not good and evil, or truth and falsehood), that those two things come up throughout scripture so often as evil = darkness and truth = light is the contrast here, and that in this "love does not" verse, we are actually given a remedy.  It is almost impossible to take an application of this verse in any direction other than to stand in the light of truth and be faithful....especially in our intimate relationships, the ones where God has blessed us with the ability to experience more pleasure and freedom than any others. 

Intimacy in marriage is such a fabulous thing.  Sometimes it takes a while to come to an understanding of it with a spouse because we are all so different.  We have different expectations and desires for one thing.....the challenge there is mainly developing an understanding of our spouse and how to care for them...how to put their needs before our own.  BUT, there is a danger that can be destructive to our intimacy with our spouse and, most importantly with our creator, if we do not identify it and bring it into the light of Truth.  That is that we have probably allowed ourselves to be tempted and carried away with a false version of intimacy...(if you never bought any of the lies, you are rare!)... lies about pleasure that leave us feeling horribly empty and unsatisfied...lies that are almost entirely based on physical attraction and selfish desires instead of a physical, emotional, and spiritually giving love.  That type of passion is not holy and, because of that, it cannot be sustainable for a long-term, healthy, Christ-honoring relationship.  We will not see lasting marriages where this LIE is not dispelled by the powerful light of Truth!

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things."

Philippians 4:8