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Oct 24, 2022 07:00am

This Love, part 4

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*Each Monday morning in October we’re sharing about God’s love in a five-part series called, This Love. Click here for part 1, click here for part 2, and click here for part 3. Join us and share with your friends!

If loving others is not easy, it doesn’t mean we are “doing it wrong.” There is purpose in the struggle–God often uses the struggle to teach us how to rely on Him instead of on ourselves.

Loving others doesn’t mean we always have “feelings” of love. Loving others sometimes means we act loving before we feel loving.

Since loving others is our mandate from God, empowered by God, we must also follow His lead in knowing how it plays out in our everyday life.

He even gave us visuals of the kind of love He called us to have:
He washed Judas’ feet; He healed the sick and fed the hungry; He listened to stories of the paralyzed man and the bleeding woman; He even gave Thomas the proof he needed to understand. His ultimate picture of the kind of love He calls us to was His journey to the cross, dying for the very ones who put Him there.

Isn’t it astounding how Jesus’ work always illustrates His word, and His word always highlights His work: He not only said, “greater love has no one than this, that he lays down his life for his friends…” He actually did just that.

Jesus not only teaches, but also, illustrates a love which seeks the good of another, regardless of the cost to self.

So what does this kind of love like in our everyday lives?

Loving others is active…it’s holding our tongue before sharp words come out; it’s taking a meal when we really don’t have time; it’s giving money when we hardly have enough for ourselves; it’s asking a follow up question when we’d rather change the subject to ourself; it’s not engaging in jokes or talk that make another look bad.

Love is also saying the hard thing someone needs to hear; it’s having a boundary when someone repeatedly takes advantage of us or of a loved one; it’s confronting sin; it’s saying no to one request so we can say yes to another commitment.

Sometimes what looks like love is actually just people pleasing or avoidance of conflict, and sometimes what doesn’t look like love is actually the most loving and selfless option. Knowing the difference requires discernment from the Spirit. Loving like Jesus loves does not happen naturally; love always requires the Spirit’s power and guidance.

When we understand God’s love, when we have grasped His heart for us, we not only become more loving, we now have the supernatural power to love like He loves. We’re also free from the constant quest to receive love and acceptance and admiration from others because He’s already given it to us in abundance. We no longer walk into a room on a quest to be seen and known and loved. Instead, we can walk in a room ready to love those around us with the overflow from His great love.

When we know we are loved by God, we are free to love others with the same love we ourselves have received.

Don’t miss the conclusion of our series, This Love, next Monday. See you then!