Love is a funny word, so funny in fact that many people
lose sleep over it
argue about it
search for it
calculate a formula for it
compose songs about it
and even…
write LONG novels about it!
Let’s just
say it gets people all twitter patted (from a scene in Bambi. Look it
up!). Now people receive love in two
different ways, either they accept it or they reject it. In Sutter Keely’s case
he rejected it- He full heartedly rejected it! When it came to his
girlfriend(s) he believed that there was no way in this sweet carbonated world
that they could actually love him. He had assured himself time and time again
that it was impossible. There was two situations where he rejected their love.
First, after his ex-girlfriend Cassidy and him broke up she tried to tell him
that she honestly did love him, but he insisted that she is lying (Let's imagine how that conversation went).
In
actuality, Sutter didn’t believe that ANYONE loved him. At one point in the
book Sutter and his girlfriend Aimee hydroplane off the side of the road and
instead of Aimee lashing out at Sutter for not watching the road, she was
solely concerned with how he was doing. She was attending to his needs and not
her own (what is love?). Sutter’s reaction to her love and kindness is a bit
odd. He pushed her away and seriously thought that something was wrong with
her. He was so confused as to why she was not mad at him for almost killing
them. He reacted this way because Sutter didn’t understand what love really was.
Here was a
boy who felt unloved by everyone around him, his uninterested mom, newly rich sister,
absent dad, friends and girlfriends. In Brennan Manning’s book Abba’s Child he writes about love and
what we as humans do with it,
“We cannot accept love from another human being when we do not love ourselves, much less accept that God could possibly love us”.
In Sutter’s
case this quote is all too true. Sutter seemed happy, relaxed and carefree in
his outer shell. When really he was a teenage boy who was
searching for a father figure and for someone to take interest in him. (If only
he knew that there was a father for him up in Heaven who claims him proudly as
His child). Sutter was searching for a purpose in his life. He wanted something
to satisfy him but what he was constantly searching for couldn’t be found in
earthly treasures or even other people.
If you’ve
read this book you can view Sutter Keely as many things, a joke, an alcoholic,
an average teenager or a class clown. I see him as a broken person just like
all of us who’s desperately searching for a fulfilled life in Christ. As broken
people we don’t think that we deserve love from anyone- especially Jesus. But
here’s some spectacular news from Brennan Manning,
“ Brokenness is proper to the human condition, we must forgive ourselves for being unlovable, inconsistent, incompetent, irritable and potbellied…our sins cannot keep us from God”.
So even
though Sutter rejected all the love that was offered to him, he still had the
chance to accept the most perfect love there is and that’s the love from the
Lord.
One last thought…
In my opinion you could listen to 1,000 songs about love and
read all the books in the world containing theories and philosophical teachings
on love itself, but you still would not understand what love really is without
a relationship with Jesus Christ. Without experiencing Jesus in your heart and
accepting the love he has to offer, you could never understand what true love
is.
“He offers you an understanding and compassion which are like nothing you have ever found in a book or heard in a sermon”. –Brennan Manning
We know what real love is
because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives
for our brothers and sisters. -1 JOHN 3:16
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