God is love. A godless society becomes

A 'loveless' society

Violence is not an expression of love. Are there expressions of violence in the land?

Lust is not love. The emphasis on sexual freedom is a substitute for genuine Love.

Lovemaking is described and talked about in magazines, newspapers, on TV and freely promoted in movies.

It would seem that with all the lovemaking going on, even among teenagers, that love would be growing in the land.

But, it's pure animal pleasure that is being promoted. It is fleshly excitement and variety which is being advertised.

People who decide to 'have an affair' are reaching for something they don't have ... Love! People who file for divorce are rebelling against the absence of love in their homes.

Children who become angry and rebellious are reacting to a 'lack of love' on the inside.

Parents double up in anguish and say, "but, we have always loved them." But, to love someone and to make them feel loved is two different things. And even if you have a river of loving feelings gushing out of you in demonstrations of emotionalism ..... they cannot receive it if their heart is like a rock. Only God can turn 'heart of stone' into a 'heart of flesh'. We are not born again by will of the flesh. We are not born again because our mother wants us to be born again. Prayer helps because it gets God to increase the working of the Holy Spirit upon a persons life.

But, thousands of people have not been born again even after people have prayed for them for twenty years.

For someone else to be able to 'return the love we give' is another thing. Some people don't have it on the inside to give. Some people have it on the inside, but circumstances and past offenses have dammed up the well and walled up the flow. A man offended is harder to be won back over because of the resistance that has been built up. The Bible says it is easier to conquer a city than it is to be totally reconciled with that person.

That's why 'prevention' is better than 'making up'. Learn how to AVOID CONFLICT as much as possible, so there is the least amount of reason for people to shut off their flow of love toward you! (Both in the home and in church and in the world.)

Be wise as a serpent and harmless as a dove. "Be smart and be loved, instead of 'being right' and being stubborn.

If you can't change a donkey at least treat him right so that when you are really tired he will be inclined to carry your burden while you ride on his back.

There are so many pitifully love-starved people in the world.

One woman tries to pull love out of her husband. She begs him to touch, to talk, or to buy flowers. She wants love but she is begging for flowers when he hates to waste money on something that is going to die.

Another woman does almost the same thing. Her husband is loving 'at times'. He waits until he wants to show her his love in his own way. But, she wants 'love on demand'. She wants it to be on her time schedule and when she feels like receiving it. But the world cannot produce 'love by demand'.

third woman turns down physical advances and turns off her husband. She makes him angry and frustrated and 24 hours later she is wanting him to take her out to dinner.

Love is a choice and when we choose to meet other people's needs at our "inconvenience", they will be more inclined to respond to our needs at a later time.

What does marriage mean? It means there is only one body in the world which you can legitimately touch for your own fleshly pleasure. And that kind of touching is supposed to be intertwined with a sense of love between two people.

When a person becomes stingy with their body or their signs of affection there is a possibility that the mate is going to be tempted to look elsewhere for what they need or crave.

For the man it may be animal excitement and it may be sentimental romance for the woman. But, in either case, to deprive another of what they need can only lead to the day when we will be deprived of lots of things we have taken for granted.

There are thousands of men who refuse to consider their wives' feelings, until the flower of love in her has died. The washed clothes and clean dishes and lovely children go out the door with the woman they didn't have time for.

They can get angry if they want to. They can get jealous if they must. But, to win that woman back is sometimes an impossibility.

Thousands of women don't want to spare fifteen minutes to please their husbands ... but they turn around and demand that he give them an hour in mowing the grass and an hour to move furniture and 45 minutes to go to the store and an hour and a half to fix the plumbing.

The Bible says: "Give and it shall be given unto you, heaped up, pressed down, shaken together and running over, love shall be given back to YOU."

Millions of Christians have been taught to 'give money' so they can be prosperous. But, it's time to tell people the truth about love. They can learn to choose to do acts of kindness and speak words of softness and overlook faults and failures and still show love to others ... and what they measure out will come back to them from God and others.

Get More!

or Be Content?

The Bible says: "The eyes of man are never full". A drunkard can drink six hundred cases of beer and never quench his need to drink.

A drug addict can score every day of the week and never lose his craving for drugs.

Men can took and lust and have a thousand partners, but still the sex urge will not go away.

More is not the answer. In all of these situations "MORE" - ACTUALLY INCREASES THE NEEDS, THE CRAVINGS AND THE DESIRES!

Sometimes in life, men must learn 'self- control' and contentment with less. Those who don't, simply torment themselves with what they don't have or they reach into forbidden territories- and get burned.

Women condemn men for such cravings and often despise them for it.

Yet ... their cravings 'to be loved' can be just as addictive. Some women grovel forever in self- pity.

They don't even enjoy the tender kindness that is shown them from time to time. Some don't slink back in self-pity, instead they are obsessed with pressing past barriers to satisfy their need for kindness, conversation or sentimentality. There are ways for men to get their needs satisfied more often within marriage, but it takes some thinking and wisdom on their part first.

And there are ways for women to get a little more of what they want, but it will take some pre-thinking and a change of daily behavior habits that are working against them.

The key to the whole thing is: "Seek to know the rules and principles which will cause others to release to you the love that you need." "Do all you can to be the kind of person that others will want to love." And then he doesn't want to make more money. He goes to his grave a rich but miserable man.

Millions of people have what others envy ... and yet they themselves are unhappy.

Women with good husbands file for divorce ... and six hundred other ladies say, "You're crazy. I'd give all my shoes and my best handbag to have a husband like yours."

I worked with a man named Fred who was always lusting after every woman that walked through the store. One day a truly beautiful and absolutely gorgeous woman walked by. The other men made lustful comments and acted as if they knew her. I asked who she was and they told me that she was Fred's wife. I couldn't believe it!

Fred had it all and was never satisfied. You may not have it all. But. if you can teach yourself to be happy with an older car and an imperfect mate, you will be wiser than millions of people!

"BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE" !

Contentment is the key to happiness. The boy who couldn't stand to be poor went from rags to riches. But, he never finds a time when

Godliness with contentment is great gain. (I Tim. 6:6)