Same same but different

Three weeks ago I went to get my belly button pierced. The place was very nice and with the coupon I had it was very reasonably priced. I went laid down on the bed she put a clamp on my belly. After a few moments she shoved a hollow needle through it and eventually changed the needle out for a ring. It didn't phase me at all. I had some problems later but that is a story for a different day. 

The next week I went to get some blood tests (not bad just routine for a new doctor). It was a nice place but very hospitally (again very normal for a hospital). The girls were nice. I waited my turn and sat down in the chair where they  were going to take the blood. I sat down and watched the girl across from me get like six tubes of blood taken. Thinking since it didn't phase her I should be fine. Man was I wrong. I held still and waited for her to put my needle in my arm. She found the vein with one stab (which is kid of miraculous in itself). She took two tubes of blood and was done. She started taking the needle out when it happened. The world started to go black and then I passed out. Not just out but like out for a full minute, waking up not knowing where I was or what was going on. Waking up I tried to play it cool and make a stupid comment about passing out. Then I promptly passed out again just as long as the time before. They then made me sit for quite a while and drink a sickly amount of orange juice. 

The point of telling the two stories is this. Sometimes two things that can seem so similar. A bigger needle shoved all the way through the skin and something put in and left in no big deal while a smaller needle joked just into the side of my arm causes complete shut down of whole body. 

Things in theory that are very similar but in reality very different. Same as the concept of underwear and swim suits. I find our culture and Christianity's view of love very much the same way. On the outside it looks very much the same but deep down our reaction to both are very different. 

Our culture tells us that love is fulfilling ourselves through the use of other people and when we are done we can throw them away. It is based on your feelings and emotions while those of the other person are not considered. We see it all the time broken marriages and relationships because one or the other doesn't feel it anymore. 

Christianity tells us love is fulfilling the other through our actions. Building them up. Doing this does not only build the other up it builds you together as a couple. 

What our culture says is love is really lust. Living off their emotions and pleasure. How often does our world say "if it's love you'll have sex" or "you will let the other degrade your core values". How can that be healthy and currently because of this mindset we have younger and younger people getting pregnant and doing things they are not ready for because they feel alone and they think that relationship will fill that void. Not from personal experience but based on the experiences of my friends and peers I can say a majority of the time it may fill that void for a short period of time but as soon as that relationship is over it leaves an emptiness even larger than the one they started with.

Again a Christian relationship that is being pursued for the right reasons is the opposite. Christianity tells us "what can I do to build this person up" or "how can we better peruse Christ through this relationship?" Growing together in The Lord not just as a couple. It is never just the two of you God is always there in the midst of your relationship. 

So all in all be warned about love. When talking to someone you may think something while they mean something completely different. 

1 Peter 4:8 
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. (NIV)