Mark 12. 30-31, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." This semester it has been very apparent that the Lord is trying to teach me and mold my heart to better serve him. One of the ways is that of loving others to the degree that He loves them. I love people, which is natural for me. I simply want to be there for people, love them, and help them. When I care about someone, it is very deeply. When I am close to someone, I try to give them every bit of love and care I have. Despite that, I’m not perfect. I fail. I fail to show how I really feel and express it in a way they can understand what I am really trying to convey. Yet life happens. I don’t know, maybe I am the only one…
You pour your life into someone and it appears to be not only unappreciated, but resented. All the love you invested seemed to be unseen and as you attempt to gently warn them of the road they are headed down, you are all the more pushed away and your warnings disregarded. Instead of being appreciated, or more importantly your warnings heeded, the person takes your highly valued, cherished, and invested relationship and throws it to the ground. Instead of bouncing, it shatters. The flying pieces cut deep and the wounds are still painful. Many situations have come up lately that have left me with the wonder of if it is worth it… all the effort, all the time, all the investment of emotion and love, and it seems it was all for nothing. I was reading for Corinthians class and found a verse where Paul expressed his heart that I saw mirrored in my own. Galatians 4.11, “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.” Paul had been writing to the church in Galatia warning them and encouraging them to do right. However two verses earlier he expressed, “But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?” They wanted to go back to their old ways of living. Then he said, I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Paul was worried for them. He worried that everything he had taught them and warned them about was for nothing. He was worried that they had learned nothing from all he had invested into them. One book earlier Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12.15, “And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.” Both verses mirror and begin to express the frustration I have wrestled in my heart. The latter verse expresses how we should value a life. He says that he will very gladly give him everything he had no matter how they treated him in return or how they responded to their . The verse emphasizes unconditional love. Romans 12.9-10, one of the passages read in dorm devotions says, “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;” Dissimulation means sincere. It is saying that love is to be sincere; real; not fake. This passage is teaching to love others to the point of placing them above ourselves; placing their feelings above your own. Despite the value they place on you or how they respond to you. Again, its unconditional love. My boyfriend teaches me unconditional love on a daily basis. By the way he responds to me and others, he responds in such a loving and forgiving manner even when I am a total jerk to him. 1 Corinthians 13.4-7, “Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” This is love. This is true, Christ-centered love. True love for others is unselfish. Matthew 5:44, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;” This verse makes it very apparent that that love has no contingency. Regardless of how one may treat you, we are still to love them sincerely. 1 Peter 1.22, “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervent:” Unfeigned; sincere. Loving others is a command. It was never suggested that we should love others, or given an option to love people, but rather told to love others. There are many verses which convey this truth… (emphasis mine) John 15.12, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another as I have loved you.” John 15.17, “These things I command you, that ye love one another.” John 13.34, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” If we love God we will love others. True love comes from Him. 1 Thessalonians 4.9, “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” 1 John 4.7, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” 1 John 4.12, “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” 1 John 4.16, “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” 1 John 4.8, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” In Galatians 5.22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” Love is a fruit of the Spirit. It is evidence of Christ’s indwelling of you. You can’t produce fruit on your own. While in fact, He doesn’t expect you to. John 15.4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” He expects you to trust Him to come to Him realizing you can do nothing and by doing what is right, allowing Him to do the work through you. It all boils down to unconditional love. Loving others without an asterisk. Even if they hurt you. Even if you disagree. Even if they do not listen to you. Even if they hate you. Love them anyway. Serve them, invest them, prefer them and how they feel above yourself. This is what has been drilled into my heart lately. I know I am not arrived by any means. I have not learned all I am to gain from these experiences in my life, I am sure, but I hope to soak it in. I am not all I should be to those in my life. I fail. I hurt people. I don’t communicate my love and care to others the way I should. I get hurt and withdraw, but I I pray that y’all will be patient with me as I learn to apply these truths to my life, and that y’all can gain something from what He has been working with me. (1 Thessalonians 4.9) “….ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.” He is teaching me and I am thankful He is patient with me, even when these lessons must be repeated.
1 Comment
ECE
3/15/2016 11:53:51 am
We have to love them even if they are hard to love. For we are not always easy to love but the love of God is good else to love us. If a men say loves God but hates his brother than he's a lair. We have to love,no we get to.
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January 2023
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