Counterfeit Money

"I love you," "I can make you happy," "ALL you need is right here," "I'll take care of you," "You don't need anything else but me because I'll make all your pain go away," "my love for you will take care of everything, just stay with me," "I will fulfill all your wants and desires, you just have to work for it."
What is love? You may say you "love chocolate" or you are "in love with your boyfriend/girlfriend." Someone may say "I love my team!" What if the chocolate you eat is bitter? Do you still love it? What if your boyfriend or girlfriend breaks up with you? Are you still in love with him or her? Now for your favorite team that you love? If they lose, you are sad or even mad, right? So do you still love them?

Now, think of that one person in your life that is hard to love.  Do you? Do you love them? It is difficult to love them and yet you know you are called to love them?
To know what true love is and know how it acts you must have a role model. Would this person be your role model? Probably not. So who is your role model?
What is it that this person does or did to show you love?
You see we have a role model and His name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He said to us Love one another just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.
(John 13:34-35 for the whole story)
Have you ever met someone in sheep's clothing? You know, that one person in your life that may have been a sweet talker and a pursuer for your happiness too. Then time passes and found out that person has a bad temper that scares you, actions aren't matching up with words, that person is saying one thing but sounds like something completely different?
This is the counterfeit. 
Look at today's advertisements on television, read the billboards, listen to your advertisements for movies or look at the movie titles themselves. What are you seeing? hearing? believing? This is the counterfeit
I loved the term that R G Lee wrote in his sermon called "Payday Someday!" that I read today. He wrote "The devil pays in counterfeit money."
In Bible class recently we were talking about true love compared to the counterfeit love that the world wants to offer us. I found it rather humorous today.
Money seems to be the root of our issues lately, but is it? I mean I know we need money to survive that is honest and true. What are we depending on though? Is the truth or the counterfeit that we are falling for? The dollar says "In God We Trust"
So, when you yourself are offering love (and I speak for myself also) make sure that it is the love just as Jesus showed us on the cross. His death for our freedom came with a price and it wasn't counterfeit. He loves you just as you are and not asking anything in return. IF you choose to accept Him, you will WANT to change because you LOVE Him. It's a want not a need. He wants you He doesn't need you. You were and are worth loving and meant to be loved.

~Marjorie

I confess that I don't always love with the "true" love that I am suppose to love with. I have to go back to the cross too and watch my role model again.
I'm not perfect, but I am who God says that I am: His.