Kindergarten Love

Posted On February 14, 2013

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. – 1 John 4:7-8 NKJV.

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. – 1 Corinthians 13:4:8a NKJV.

And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV.

Picture the scene, 100 brides and grooms in wedding dresses and suits all gathered to give rings and make wedding vows. This huge wedding took place in Zhengzhou, China in Henan Province. The brides and grooms, had each carefully chosen their own husbands and wives. They had each wooed their new husband or wife with a chocolate or a…toy. The toys were important because all of these brides and grooms were between the ages of three and six! The head of the Kindergarten program Li Wang says that “This teaches them about relationships and how to maintain them and what they should be working towards. They’re taught to be kind and thoughtful.” The wedding did take place before a government registrar, but parents were assured that the ceremonies were not binding in any way. Of course, each bride and groom had to have their parent’s permission to participate in the event. (Orange News 01.15.13)

Robert Fulghum wrote the book “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”. I have never read the book, but I have never forgotten the title. Some life lessons that Fulghum says that we learn in Kindergarten are: Sharing, being fair, cleaning up your messes, don’t hurt people, and apologizing when you hurt someone. Robert Fulghum can add a new chapter to his book now: How to Get Married.

Love is a wondrous thing. Love can make everything beautiful, and the lack of love can suck the life out of anything. Maybe that is because God is love, and God is life. The opposite of love is hate, and opposite of life is death. Herein is the key to life, love, and marriage.

How can we make our marriages better, and how can we live life better? We can make marriages and life better by having more love. But, you are going to have to go to the true source to find that true love. The true source, the primary source of love is God, because God is love.

We are told in James 4:8 that if we draw near to God that God will draw near to us. We must get closer to God to have more love. How do we get closer to God? Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33 to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” We have to make God the number one priority in our lives. Jesus also tells us in Matthew 4:4 quoting from the Old Testament, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'” To become closer to God we need more of His Word in our lives. We also need to be in greater communication with our God, asking Him to grow our love. We are told in James 4:2c that “…you do not have because you do not ask.” Ask God to increase your love and to strengthen your marriage.

Whether a marriage works or not comes down to one important thing. That one thing is whether both the husband and the wife are truly committed to following their Lord. The marriage will work, and the love will continue, if you love each other as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5:25). How did Jesus do that? He died for it. You must continually die to self to make your marriage be filled with love.

(We can make marriages and life better by having more love.)