Love?


Recently I read that a 12-year-old boy in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, tragically hanged himself. Do you want to know why? Because the next day was his first day at a new school, he was overweight and he dreaded being taunted by others.

That's really a tragedy, but I know how the boy felt, because I was sometimes taunted in school too. You know, I wasn't at a Christian school (as I always wished for), but in a German school with proud children who had 'famous' (meaning with money) parents. The thing was that I wasn't like them...I was usually silent at school and I wasn't doing all the bad things they were doing...because of this I got the label: pocăită (meaning 'repenter'/ Christian/ born-again girl) and I hated it. I hated that they called me like that. I wanted to be normal and left alone. I didn't want to be marginalized. I was just a girl with 10 or 12 years and I had my own scars, but children are like that. If they don't understand others, they taunt them. Or if they are afraid to be taunted themselves, they will taunt others for that cause. I don't understand why children do that, aren't they just children? But I realized how sinful the human being is, even being so little...now growing up and looking back to my middle school years, I can say that I'm happy I got that label, because it's something which is great! To be different from others through this, is truly something I can be happy about.

But what about other labels that are forced on us or, worse still, we stick on others? Labels like 'nobody', 'loser', 'fatty', 'waster', 'nerd', 'cow', 'gay' or 'ugly'?

God wants you to wear and hand out the label of LOVE, because the greatest gift you have to receive yourself and to give to others is God's love: 'Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.' If we focus on God, we accept the labels He gives us: precious, beautiful, overcomers, priceless, prince or princess. In light of these, no one else's opinion matters. God's labels of love are true.

But it's true that it's easier to label people than love them. It's easier to make jokes and diss people than to build them up and encourage them. But the Bible says, 'The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love- so you can't know Him if you don't love'.

So, what is love?

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