Love your mate in the mind of Christ

We hear people talk about “love” everyday everywhere. Every one declares “I love you” to his or her mate in their weddings. How many of them choose to divorce later? My ex-husband used to say “I love you” many times a day, but he betrayed me while I was pregnant. Even after having remarried , he still said to me, “ I love you”.

Thousands of times I have asked myself of such question, what is love? no one has given me a sure and satisfactory answer. This is more of life than a question. Human’s love is self-centered, frail, impatient, conditional.

After having divorced, I attempted to look for a man who really loves me. Exhausted with date, I had to change my mind to find someone as a partner to spend my life with. But when I was born again in Jesus Christ, I started searching for the real meaning of love.

From the Bible, we know God is the source of love. According to the book of 1 Corinthians13:4-8 “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. Love never fails.” From this point we really don’t have love in our hearts; much less those who haven't confessed Jesus as their personal Lord.

So we should let God be our guide to find our soulmates and to love them in the mind of Christ as well.

You will say, it is easier said than done. How do we put it into practice?

Since I had made Jesus as my personal Lord and had presented my life as a living sacrifice towards God, I decided to live for Him. Self-denial reminds me that everything that belongs to me belongs to God. He is the Lord in every area of my life, of course, in my marriage. So I quit dating or taking part in any match party; I made HIM my matchmaker, let God send me a husband.

I tried my best to spread gospel when I was in China, from door to door, on roadside, on the train, at public rest hall, in companies wherever I worked. No matter whether people liked or disliked , I spoke loudly so that more people could hear. Twice I was fired because of gospel. helping the needy and serving God in my church, I almost forgot my marriage; then God sent him to me unexpectedly.

My profile had been on an online date website for more than one year. I was too tired to repeat my story again and again. When he said to me,“ I love you!” I laughed, “OK, you love me, I love you. Whatever.” He told me excitedly, “I have booked my ticket to see you!” “Ok. do you have business in China? Or any relative or friend? !” He said :“NO! I am coming ONLY for YOU!” at the first sight of my profile, he knew I must be his wife. He kept knocking on my door and banging my wall until broke down my defense stronghold of doubt. He was supposed to visit me next spring after snow melted away, but a strong voice urged him “go, NOW!”. Without a Visa he had been blocked in Hong Kong, later had lost his passport, then had made a wrong exit , the train express had changed schedule… but God helped him all the way ,he was amazing!

We don’t love each other by our sight because we are blind, and we don’t know human’s heart. But we both love God who never makes mistake. We believe each other is the best mate for another in the whole world so for God’s sake we love each other. And indeed, we are perfectly matched. We both like helping people; we also have the same special quality, uncompromising personality and strong faith in God.

Disagreement and misunderstanding happen inevitably in daily life since we live in this world. Bible says, “be angry, and sin not; Do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” Some women tend to call police if they have arguments with their husbands. I think such problems should be solved between the couple unless husbands use force. It is unnecessary to get any third party involved, which shall make things worse. If any misunderstanding happens because of our different cultures and habits, I’ll go to basement to talk to God “look! God, you picked out this man for me; I trust in you so you should be responsible for my marriage. now we have an argument…. Please give us peace and joy, comfort our hearts.” he does the same. Soon comes peace and joy into our lives again.

We both have met some temptation too. Not only do we hate to sin against God, but also we know no one in this world is better for each other than another. Some people say, “ We all are humans; of course, we make mistakes. God is love. HE says, whoever offends you and asks of your forgiveness should be forgiven seventy-seven times. So God always forgives our sins.” Yes. It is true, but we shouldn’t take it for granted. No pretext. Otherwise, you don’t really love God; you don’t really love your mate. If you really love her or him with your whole heart, how can there be any room in your heart for other ladies or guys?!

Bible tells us, each one is tempted by his own evil desire. Resist devil, and he shall flee from you. Book of 1John also says, those who are born of God don’t sin, they love God and know of God. The evil one doesn’t touch them. if you really love God, you don’t want to sin against Him. So the same to your marriage. We are faithful to each other as we love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds and with all our strengths. Therefore, we are not interested in anyone else; of course, neither can we betray each other.

Guided by God, we love each other in the mind of Christ; we also love our family in the mind of Christ. such love urges us to love other people around too.