I thought I’d taken all the right steps in life. I had a pretty wife, two wonderful kids, a good career and lived in a better house than I had ever expected.  But somehow it all unraveled so quickly.  The company I worked for was bought and we had to relocate. My job seemed at risk. With all the stresses, our relationship deteriorated and we talked about divorce for the first time in our marriage.  I soon felt like a complete stranger to my wife and kids, giving me a sense of despair like I’d never known.  Not long after, I ended up in the emergency room with chest pains, numbness in my arm and shortness of breath, wondering in fear if I might die right there.  I thought I had it all under control and had taken all the right steps in life, but somehow they seemed to have led me nowhere.

Through this there was one person who I turned to for friendship and counsel. She spoke openly about loving God and His Word.  This seemed so very strange to me, yet it was so genuine in her.  She spoke about growing in grace and our capacity to love.  I don’t think I’d ever considered the concept of grace, nor had I ever considered that one’s capacity to love could grow. I thought you just learned love from your parents, even though my parent's relationship fell short of what I wanted for myself.  I thought you just "fell in love," got married and then just hoped for the best as an adult.

But my friend led me to the source of a far higher love than I had ever experienced:  The love of God.  Here I learned a far greater definition of love than any human could teach me.  In the words and example of Jesus Christ, I learned that love is far more than just an emotion or sensation that gives pleasure. True love is a decision to put the needs of others above your own, whatever the cost.  From our first moments as infants, we experience love as having our own needs met, but true love grows beyond that and focuses on the needs of others, finding its reward in their joy.  Since the time I first understood this, the steps I've taken in life with love have always led me to places I had never before imagined; to compassion instead of anger, to understanding instead of judgment, to joy instead of sorrow, to faith instead of doubt, to peace instead of worry, and to His wisdom instead of my pride.

So to what source of wisdom do you turn to take your life to a higher level?  Your own wisdom?  The words of a popular psychologist in the media?  Or do you turn to the one who changed history and still changes lives two thousand years later and follow the steps of Jesus Christ.  Do you know of any single person in the history of mankind who could be more one with God than He?  Why settle for anything less?

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.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
Words of Jesus Christ in John 15:12-13

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
1 Peter 2:21

Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.
Words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:24-29