You are what you love?

Sometimes we think that it is primarily what we know that make us who we are but this is not the most influential thing in our lives. The reality is there are tons of people who know that if they eat fast food every day of their lives it will lead to heart issues, diabetes, and ultimately an untimely death and yet their are many people in the world who continue to each fast food every day. There is something deeper happening here than just knowledge.

I believe that it is less about what you know… and more about what you love, that changes you.

The Bible shows us in proverbs 4:23 “ Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” ESV

NASB “ Watch over your heart with all diligence, For from it flow the springs of life.”

Keep your heart with all vigilance,

So the Bible is pretty clear here… that life comes from your heart, that the very essentence of who you are comes from their heart.

for from it flow the springs of life.

Jesus asks the same question in John chapter 1.

• 35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” ()

Jesus does not ask the question of what do you think? He asks, what do you want? What we want and desire, what we love and worship… these are the things that drive us and change us.

So… we have to ask then… what is love?

What is love?

I want to break it into two categories. They are very broad but I think it will help us.

We

We find ourselves loving things that offer us things that we want. These things are lovely, or worth loving to us. For instance....

I love whataburger… some of you know this. It is worth loving. The food is AMAZING!! The colors are awesome and I just love it. Because it give me what I want. My hearts desire is a Honey butter Chicken buiscuit guys… it just is....

Or maybe you love a movie or TV show or something like that. All of these things are in themselves worth loving because they give us something. So it almost make sense that we love them. We desire them, we want them, we actually move our lives around to have them. Like.. I don’t have WB up here so on our way to camp… you bet that is where we are stopping....

Loving things not based on the loveliness of the object of the love but rather on your good will. Your good will toward a person or the thing that you are loving. Your aim in that kind of love is to do good, to bring about something beautiful, not to respond to beauty. You don’t love this thing because it benefits you, you do it because you want to create beauty in your love.

While we were still sinners, Christ died for the ungodly

A love that a parent has for a child even when they do something wrong.

I broke a lot of things.... but my parents still loved me… didn’t kick me out, It didn’t benefit them to have me in those times. But they still loved me.

Tonight I want to focus on the first love. Loving things because of what they offer us.

When we love things, we give ourselves to them. You will be able to see this in some ways and not see it in the beginning in other ways.

We see it in

The time we spend doing that thing we love

The resources we give to that thing we love

The things we give up for that thing

The things we don’t see.

How that thing we love is affecting what we believe about the world

How that thing is affecting what we believe about ourselves.

How that thing is affecting what we believe about God.

Our loves steer our lives. So, when we love the wrong things our lives fall apart. God designed us to love him above everything else. We have talked about this. God designed us for himself and everything else is less. So, when we try to put other things in his place we start to fall apart.

In 1914 the Ship the Manroe ran into the ship, the Nantucket during a foggy winter. 41 men died in the accident. Later during the investigation it was found that the Captain of Nantucket was using a compass that was 2 degrees off. Doesn’t seem like much. He said that many captains use this type of compass and it was sufficient to run the ship. The Compass had not been recalibrated in a year… This is what caused the Manroe to run into the Nantucket.

So… If your loves are off then your ship with sink. Weather emotionally, physically, mentally. If your loves are disordered. If you love something that is not worth loving then it will lead you a place that you will not wan to go.

Let’s examine what we love.

What do you think about when there is nothing else to think about?

What do you dedicate the majority of your time to?

W

These things

what would you give up to do over anything else?

These are the things you love. Do you need to get rid of these thigns?