Driving early morning and listening to a Sirrus Channel of old Western Songs from the 30s and 40s, a phrase popped into my spirit from a song I heard. The group and the title escape me, and I would find it given time, but let’s leave that for another day.
We often talk of True Love. Heartfelt from as deep and wide as it can be. No fakery nor falsehoods. There’s nothing surreptitiously about it – you can see it coming a mile away! Modern Love is not True Love. What passes for Love today is often related to Lust or perhaps a passing fancy.
There is a fine line between Love and anything else you could describe: Hate, Detest, Indifference. Wow. Is there any single word that would represent the opposite? Probably not.
But what we do know is that Love shows up as a masquerade and in costume when someone has other deeds in mind. Call it False Love. Fake. Regardless, it’s destined to be hurtful. Anything can masquerade as Love, but Time will reveal the true meaning of the fakery and false along the edges.
The Masquerade of Love: Love shows up as a masquerade and in costume when someone has other deeds in mind. Call it False Love. Fake. Regardless, it's destined to be hurtful. Click To Tweet
Maybe the best thing to do is understand the meaning of True Love. When learning to be a bank teller, we were taught how to spot counterfeit money. How? By showing us only the Real Stuff! By doing so, the Fake Stuff will shine forth!
Love suffers long and is kind;
love does not envy;
love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
does not behave rudely, does not seek its own,
is not provoked, thinks no evil;
does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
But whether there are prophecies, they will fail;
whether there are tongues, they will cease;
whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 NKJV
Let’s banish the banality of “You always hurt the one you love” as a false statement giving the right to be hurtful. That’s not love. The truth may hurt, but if done in Love, then you have a true relationship. Paul says it like this:
…but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
Ephesians 4:15 NKJV
Whatever you do, if you are in Love, even Spiritual Love, feel free to be truthful. If you do it in any other way, it’s simply not True Love.