{"id":1621,"date":"2022-05-06T08:08:40","date_gmt":"2022-05-06T12:08:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=1621"},"modified":"2022-05-06T08:08:40","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T12:08:40","slug":"how-to-be-a-great-lover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2022\/05\/06\/how-to-be-a-great-lover\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Be a Great Lover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A few years ago I ran across an advertisement for a love potion.\u00a0 \u00a0
\u00a0
It was called Love\u2019s Bouquet.\u00a0 At the top of the ad were four exciting words:\u00a0 Never Be Lonely Again!<\/em>\u00a0 Further down it read:\u00a0 \u201cJust a touch or two of this powerful love-potion-in-a-bottle is all you need to captivate a new partner or revive a flagging romance.
\u00a0
Love\u2019s Bouquet, according to the ad, contains a fiercely irresistible chemical formula which drives<\/u><\/em> people of the opposite sex to you without conscious awareness on their part.\u00a0 \u201cThey can\u2019t help themselves.\u00a0 Age or appearance doesn\u2019t matter!\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
The ad included this testimonial from a woman named Jennifer who lives in Wisconsin:\u00a0 \u201cMen who were shy are now genuinely unable to stay away from me.\u201d\u00a0
\u00a0
The possibilities for this product seem endless.\u00a0 Is your church wrangling over theological issues or the color of the carpet in the parlor?\u00a0 Just add a few drops of Love\u2019s Bouquet to the communion wine. Conflicts will dissolve and worship attendance will skyrocket.
\u00a0
If only it were that easy.
\u00a0
Real love is not about chemistry.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not about feelings.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a tidal wave of romantic sentiments that washes us helplessly from one experience to another.\u00a0
\u00a0
If there really is a potion that drives other people to our sides apart from their consent or conscious awareness, then what is driving them is most certainly not love.
\u00a0
Twenty-three times in the New Testament followers of Jesus are commanded to love each other.\u00a0 Can feelings be commanded?\u00a0 Absolutely not.\u00a0 But behaviors<\/em> can be commanded and attitudes<\/em> can be intentionally cultivated.\u00a0 According to Scripture, love means seeking the good of other people even if we never have warm or positive feelings toward them.
\u00a0
For many of us, that will include family members.\u00a0 It certainly includes people who insist on treating us as if we were their enemies.
\u00a0
\u201cGreat lovers\u201d aren\u2019t those who can\u2019t stay away from each other.\u00a0 They are people who, by God\u2019s grace – and according to the celebrated words of the apostle Paul in I Corinthians 13 – learn to keep a lid on their anger.\u00a0 Who are patient longer than they ever thought possible.\u00a0 Who get excited about somebody else\u2019s big day.\u00a0 Who refuse to keep records of emotional hurts.
\u00a0
Love, in other words, comes down to seeking somebody else\u2019s highest good \u2013 just as God is always seeking our highest good.
\u00a0
And that\u2019s wonderful news.\u00a0
\u00a0
Because if real love is a choice, any one of us can become a great lover.\u00a0
\u00a0
Just the same, it might be wise to steer clear of women from Wisconsin named Jennifer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few years ago I ran across an advertisement for a love potion.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0It was called Love\u2019s Bouquet.\u00a0 At the top of the ad were four exciting words:\u00a0 Never Be Lonely Again!\u00a0 Further down it read:\u00a0 \u201cJust a touch or two of this powerful love-potion-in-a-bottle is all you need to captivate a new partner or revive a flagging romance.\u00a0Love\u2019s Bouquet,… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1622,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[104],"class_list":["post-1621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-love"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1623,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1621\/revisions\/1623"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}