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The Art of Loving has been around since the beginning of time, its author is none other than God himself. After creating the world, the animals of the sea, land, air and lastly man, God set in motion his plan for love. Although the art of love has been around from the beginning, it's still a very new concept to us humans and it's taken us a very long time to even grasp a small notion of what it entails.

Man was created by God in his image and was designed from the beginning to be the object of His love, a divine love.  Someone He could shower with affection and provide for in every way, but God does not force His love on his beloved, He has given us the choice to accept it or not, as stated in 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." Paul gives us this definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." He then continues on in verse 8 "Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away." So God's love is eternal, forever, no matter what, the only thing that can separate us from God is our decision not to accept His gift of love and salvation through Jesus Christ.

If we should choose to accept His gift of love and salvation through Christ then we are called to share it with others by setting an example as shown in the following verses Ephesians 4:2 "Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Mark 12:31 "The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Luke 6:31 "Do to others as you would have them do to you." 1 Peter 4:8 "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." Luke 6:35 "But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." 1 John 4:7 "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:19 "We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:18 "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." Romans 12:9 "Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good." Romans 13:10 "Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." 1 Corinthians 13:13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." And then finally we read in Colossians 3:14 "And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

So in order to perfect the Art of Loving, we must first learn to accepted what Christ has done for us in love so we can know God's love for us. By immersing ourselves in his Word through spending time reading and studying the bible, along with talking to Him through prayer, we can get to know Christ in a real way. But the Art of Loving is not perfected just by having a personal relationship with Jesus, Jesus wants us to practice what we have learned by loving others. The way to really perfect it is to love the "unlovable", those people who you don't think deserve your love or any love for that matter. The ones who step on you and grind you under their foot like an insect! Not an easy thing to do, but then Christ never said it would be easy to follow Him, He only said He would be alongside guiding us as we learn to perfect the Art of Loving!

What better example of the Art of Loving than that of Christ who came to earth to live a life pure and innocent, teach us to love and die to prove His love by becoming a sacrifice for all! "Greater love has no one than this that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13. In divine love there is always an exchange, His life for mine, my life for others, those who have been forgiven, forgive; those who receive grace, give grace. The best way to learn the Art of Loving is from the Master, Himself!