The Choice of Love - Part Three

The Choice of Love, Part Three Lessons From The Life of Solomon

 

1Corinthians 13: 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.

 

Life is about choices. We can look back over our lives with regret or rejoicing at the decisions we make; usually it is a mixture of both. Of all the facets of being inescapably human, romantic love remains one of the most confusing and daunting we will face. That is because it is one area that we still tend to listen more to worldly philosophy than Godly wisdom. We are inclined to Oprah-ize love or wonder what Dr. Phil says, instead of what God says. The reason we seem to get it wrong so often is that we treat love as strictly an emotion, a product of our soul. But love is also a product of our spirit even though we give it more emotional power than it rightly deserves. In fact, one just needs to look at the way we speak about love, to see the emotional control that we give it. We do not say that we have love or even feel love. No; we "fall into" love; as if it some sort of bear trap clasping around our ankles not letting us go. Love is not quicksand beloved. As with everything, God explains for us in the bible, exactly what love is supposed to be. Remember that it is the design of God that we are not to be alone. In just the second chapter of the bible, God declares this fact:

 

The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." Genesis 2:18

 

Paul continues his discourse on what love is in verse six with a simple oppositional statement. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. In the first two devotionals in this series, we talked about having God as the center of any loving relationship. This verse confirms that. The life of King Solomon should give us all pause for not keeping God first in love.

 

King Solomon was one of the most successful Kings of Israel. His reputation and wisdom from God grew in stature and at his height of prominence; his kingdom was unrivaled in the entire world. Early on we see recorded about Solomon:

 

God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite--wiser than Heman, Calcol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom. 1Kings 4: 29-34

 

And God continued to prosper King Solomon: