Among all the qualities of God's character produced in us by His Spirit, love seems the most natural, second nature, and easiest to both offer and receive. Love. Indeed, seemingly the easiest of all qualities to model in so very many moments. Love is there in all things, except when love is hard. And it can be hard, can't it?
Let's get real (unpeeled) about love. It can be hard to love people. Love means handing over the remote control when we'd rather keep it, getting up just when we're all settled and in a comfy spot, speaking in a balanced tone of voice when we'd rather be screaming, opening our heart to listen to another when we'd rather allow our own feelings to tumble out. Yes, it's hard to love people.
How can we grow this fruit of love in our lives and in the lives of others, in everything?
Love is not about being nice for the sake of niceness it's about being like Jesus. Love is a committed choice to be there in, Everything. When it's hard to love hard-to-love people, the fruit of love helps us in the EVERYTHING moments of life. As God is the source of all the spiritual fruits, He is the source of love. Because He loves us in the "everything" of life, WE can love others. He shows us the way.
In the "everything" moments, love is a choice. God CHOSE to love us, He did not have to. He wanted to love us, so He chose to love us. We choose to love others.
Love is a committment in, Everything. God is committed to loving us, no matter what. Love stays when it wants to go. It accepts when it wants to reject. It does what it doesn't want to do when it doesn't want to do it. It gets above the "Can't stand this person" moments and, squinting, forces itself to look at that someone the way God looks at them, seeing them flawed, but filled with potential. Love is a committment to keep choosing to love, even when you don't feel like it.
Love others as God Loves us.
Strive to be a Christ Follower.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment