What would you do for love? It is a very strange thing about life that love is celebrated openly and vigourously in the mainstream with countless songs, poems, plays, books, movies, dances, etc. We have a holiday to celebrate love, and it is wonderful when people take the time to appreciate the loving relationships that they have in their lives, it means that we still have some understanding of how important love is, and in our hearts we always desire to love and to be loved. The moment that love is taken for granted and no longer valued, is the time we must open our eyes and see the world for what it has become. Is it time to look at the world with a fresh new perspective?
We celebrate the idea of love, yet too many people now and days dismiss love's power. In America, the successful life means pursuing money, power, and fame, and love is almost like an afterthought. It is like when a man gets to that position where he has a great career, money, and recognition, he is suddenly the most attractive and desirable man on the planet. He has everything he could possibly want, but in his pursuit for money and fame, did he take the time to culivate a loving relationship with someone special? We all desire to have that type of connection, to share our heart and our lives with someone who will love us for who we are.
We need a lesson on what true love is, and we need to appreciate its power. If we ask, we shall receive. There is no one more qualified to give us that lesson than our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the best example of true love, selfless love that we will ever know. He loved us so much, that He allowed himself to be crucified on a cross, as a sacrifice for our sins, and when He rose again, with all power and might in His hands, He gave the world a powerful demonstration of love. Look, what would you do for the people that you love? Would you die for them? That is great, but what about the way you love them on a daily basis?
Most people have many people in their lives that they love: husbands/wives, friends, children, relatives, and they can say without a shadow of doubt that they love them, and that is great. But how about the strangers in your life, the people you dont know who you pass in the streets, your coworkers, people that you read about in the newspapers, and see on the tv on the news, in your favorite tv shows, people you interact with on a regular basis, such as the people in your church, or the waitress at your favorite restaurant. Do you have any loving feelings for them? Good, that shows you have taken Jesus's example to heart.
His example of love began before the foundation of this world; we were on His mind from the very beginning. He saw you and me, and He knew we would mess up and make mistakes, He knew that we wanted to be good and live up to His standards, but whenever we tried, there would always be this pulling in our hearts to do the opposite, and that we would not have the power or the will to resist it. He knew in order to save us, He would need to sacrifice Himself on a cross, as the highest demonstration of His love toward us, His children, His little ones. That is why He is so pleased when we give selflessly of ourselves to other people, especially to people that we dont personally know, because then He knows that we have learned our lessons and taken them to heart.
Don't be fooled by the naysayers and the critics, love is very powerful. It inspired my Lord Jesus to give His life for us, and without that expression of love, we would all literally be doomed, to live lives forever in darkness, pain and suffering, forever separated from the God who made us, wishing that we had pursued love instead of ignoring it. When God breathes life into something or someone, it is forever, He doesnt call it back to Himself, so we dont have the choice to just disappear from existence; when we die, our spirit lives on, and we have a choice, to live forever in His presence with love, peace, and happiness, or to live forever separated from Him, in darkness, despair, and loneliness.
Choose today to love others, even your enemies. Pray for them, give of our heart and mind, and dont be afraid or offended if you are rejected, used, or abused. Love them with the Love of Christ, not with your own strength. That is why the Holy Spirit is given to us into our hearts, so that we may love them with God's love. The love of Christ is the power to give of yourself even when the circumstances call for you to stand up for your rights, even when the person you are trying to love may be stabbing you in the back. Jesus loved all of His disciples, even Judas, and He knew that love would never be returned by him, not in the way that it was given, but Judas was loved anyway. It is sad that Judas never learned the lesson of love; we must hope and pray that the 'enemies' in our life will come one day to learn that lesson, but they will never learn it, will never know that they need to learn it, if no one demonstrates it in their life.
Trust me when I say, this is a lesson that I am still learning every day, it is a process that we all must go through. And God is patient, and He knows that we cannot be perfect while we live this life, but He does expect us to try. We take the first step, and He does the rest, so dont worry about it, because He will carry you through!
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