So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.
(Jn 13:34-35 New Living)
Love is a decision; yet in today’s society we tend to make it all about sex and emotions. Twenty years of marriage goes by then suddenly you aren’t “in love” anymore. Life long friends and neighbors suddenly don’t speak anymore. Then there are those people that are just too toxic to love or are just down right unlovable. Then there are those  who seem to “love” but enable another person to stay stuck in their dysfunction. People confuse this enabling kind of love with what is really based out of fear and selfishness. We don’t like how we feel when someone we love has to face consequences, so we intrude upon their situation to keep us from having to feel the pain of their consequences. Loving someone also means letting others at times experience consequences for their actions, even if it is uncomfortable for us.
God given love is devoid of human emotion. We love whether we like it or not. We cannot allow our emotions to dictate the way we relate to people. We must love because this is the proof that the world needs to know that Jesus is real. Jesus didn’t say loving others was going to “feel” good. When Jesus told us to love our enemies He knew we would not feel like loving them, yet He told us to decide to love them. Deciding to love doesn’t rely on emotions to make a choice. Love comes out of your will rather than your emotions; you have to actively decide that you will love a person and then show your love. Jesus said, “Dear children, let us stop just saying we love each other: let us really show it by our actions. It is by our actions that we know we are living in the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before the Lord.” (1Jn 3: 18-19 New Living) Love is more than just mere words, it is also action. Words are cheap. Loving brings us to a place of living in truth. Learning to love with your heart brings about true expression which cannot be hidden, it becomes visible or tangible. By becoming His disciples and following His command to love we bring forth His image into the world. This gives the world the opportunity for us to experience blessings of loving His children. Most of us have difficulties learning to love because we are consumed with self-protection. Love means that we will experience hurt, from which we all try to hide. The ones that I have loved and lost have been worth it. I would not trade one friendship, to escape the pain of loosing them. Each relationship has the possibility to express and experience the Father’s love for His children, but we cannot just love God and not His children. If we love God we WILL love others. Loving is so valuable to God that Jesus gave us two commandments which speak of loving God first and then loving others. When you think love has died out in a relationship, seek the God of love and ask Him to bring it back into your heart. Deadness of love is not of God or from Him; it usually comes from us trying to protect ourselves, needing to control, or selfishness. “Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is born of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God- for God is Love.” (1Jn. 4:7-8 New Living) You want to know God better? Learn to love. Break down the walls you have put up in your heart by telling yourself the truth. Loving is very important. Jesus gave several tests of love throughout the scripture. “If you love me, obey my commandments.” (Jn. 14:15 New Living) How much do you really love the Lord? Are you willing to give up your own will and way in order to experience love? Will you change your selfish and self-seeking decisions to know God? Are you willing to let the Lord bring love back into your heart even if you are afraid? Will you bring about healthy boundaries of love, even if it means letting that loved-one sit in jail? Loving God’s way is a decision not a feeling. When you think your relationships are falling apart, run into the Lord and let Him give you understanding of Love. “May the Lord bring you into an ever deeper understanding of the love of God and the endurance that comes from Christ” (2 Thess. 3:5). He knows you can’t love without Him. He will even help you learn to walk through the rough spots and strengthen you. Ask God to direct you and get you moving in the direction He wants- away from selfishness and towards Him and others. Those who are willing to love as He loves are candidates to become the expression of the Father on the earth. |
