How
Do You Love?
Loving others in a biblical manner involves
your thoughts, words, and actions and is a sign of your being a disciple of
Christ. Loving others biblically is dependent on your commitment to the Lord
Jesus Christ and is not dependent on people, circumstances, or your feelings. John C. Broger
Have you ever thought about how you approach
others with love? It is much easier to
love the people who love us isn’t it.
That is easy. It is not as easy
to love those who hate, ridicule or persecute us. If we are to exhibit God’s criteria for
loving others, we will need to practice it daily and it won’t be easy.
If the Holy Spirit lives in us, then God’s
love has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. (Romans 5:5) The kind of love we will need to
love others that are unlovable can only come from God and the Holy Spirit. The thing is we must make a conscious effort
to practice this kind of love.
The world’s love often derails us doesn’t
it? In worldly love you only love others
who love you back. In worldly love we
often use love as a means to get something back. I have been guilty of this in the past. You give love to someone with the object
being that you get something in return.
Have you ever dated someone expecting them to love you back and when
they don’t follow through, that love turns to hate and anger. I’ve been there and done that. This is not an example of God’s love. The only way we can get the kind of love that
God wants us to give to others is by loving someone when they are getting on
our nerves, loving those who make it their mission to be disagreeable and even
loving those who are persecuting us.
Jesus is the only person who lived in human
form who loved without boundaries. He
loved the lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners of the world. Even as he loved those that others, (the
Pharisees), thought were unlovable, they persecuted Him for it. If we ever hope
to give love as Jesus did, we will need to let go of ourselves. That means it’s not all about me and what I
will get from someone in return or I will only love that person if they walk,
talk, act and look like me.
Many years ago I worked down the street from
a Subway. In the part of town where I
worked there were many homeless people and they would often sit outside the
Subway. There were times when I would
walk by them like everyone else on the sidewalk and ignore them or not look
their way because it made me uncomfortable.
In today’s worldly society, you just don’t talk to the homeless. When God started changing my heart through
the Holy Spirit, I would head to the Subway for lunch and all of a sudden I
started seeing them and I started looking them in the eye. Then I started speaking to them and finally I
started buying lunch for them. I couldn’t
change their circumstances but I could love them as God loves us, with all my
heart and without reservation. If you
practice God’s love you will be surprised by what you see and what you’ve been
missing.
Prayer for the Day:
Heavenly Father, there was a time in my life where I was oblivious to others
suffering and I was selfish and self-centered.
I didn’t look past the outer layer of a person to the living breathing
human being inside. You created that
person and I need to love them as You do.
I ask for Your forgiveness for not loving others as I should.
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