With Valentine’s Day a few days behind us, the thoughts of what God expects out of us in this life came to my mind. Of course it comes to my mind every day but this time I took a little more depth into my thought about love. Sometimes we take for granted the people that we have around us and we failed to tell them that we love them as much as we should. Sometimes, we get too busy with our every day life schedule that we fail to concentrate on love. But in reality we should keep it in mind that love should rule our lives every day.
In John 13:34, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” In our Bible class the other day our preacher was asking this very question of Jesus loving us. How does he love us? He was sent to suffer and die for our sins and wrongdoings on this earth and I cannot think of a better love and a truer love than this.
This new commandment to love one another as He has loved us is huge. He commands us to think of others before ourselves and this is part of loving one another. We might get mad at people and people might hurt us mentally or physically but we still have to love. This is hard to do but if we want to get to Heaven, this is one of his commandments. I sat and thought about the ways that I can show my love to others.
When you know people are struggling physically or mentally, step up and give them encouragement or do something nice for them and show that you care. If someone is walking toward the door and you have to hurry up to get there first, stop and open that door for the other person to go through first for He says in his word the first shall be last and the last shall be first. If you see that someone is having a bad day and they are frowning, give them a compliment and tell them how beautiful they are or that something they are wearing really looks nice. When someone asks you to do some thing, go out of your way and help them even though it may not be something you want to do. That is, unless it is something bad!
This command to love one another is influenced by our hearts. In Matthew 22:37 it reads, “And He said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” If our hearts, minds, and souls are so set on God, Jesus Christ, and The Holy Spirit, then the love for others will naturally be imbedded within us. 1 John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.” Every one of us here on this earth has been born by our Creator God and that in itself is pure love.
Anyone that has held a newborn baby in their hands knows the pure love that washes over you. One John 3:1 says, “See what kind of love the father has given to us, but we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.” We are born with a pure spirit from the love of God and we as parents have a responsibility to raise our children up in the Lord. There are many who do not understand this concept and it cause issues for those of the Lord, but God says to love all and even your enemies. This is found in Luke 6:35.
This concept is very hard because it is hard loving someone who hurts you mentally or physically. I remember years ago this couple who had gotten a phone call that their daughter was killed by a drunk driver. They chose to forgive him and to pray for him and in this way they were showing love. That’s hard to do. Someone had killed their child and I don’t know how I would feel if someone killed my child and I sure in the world don’t ever want that to happen to myself nor anyone! But the faith of that couple showed such a pure faith for God and that is what we should strive for.
If you search the Bible you will find that there are so many verses on love. There are so many kinds of loves from the love of a married couple to unconditional love. Husbands and wives are to love each other not just physically but emotionally. They are not supposed to be demanding towards each other but they are supposed to be patient, kind, helpful, and respectful.
I myself experienced and unconditional love of family. With the unspoken issues of my parents past, my sisters and I were fostered for a short while until our Aunts and Uncles took us in. They didn’t have to do that but the love of family was so strong that even though these families didn’t have much and they had their own children to feed, they took us in.
I think of the story in the Bible of the good Samaritan. There was a man along the way from two cities who was beaten and left for dead. A priest and another walked by and just left him there and then this good Samaritan came around and took care of him. He brought him to an inn and paid these people to take care of him until he healed. He left money to help pay for his care and told them he’d give more when he returned if needed. Now that is love. He had a heart for another human life and he reached into his own pocket and gave for that man.
One of the most famous verses in the Bible is John 3:16 where it says that “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” If we keep in mind that God created us to be His disciples and show love for others, that He sent his ONLY Son to die on that cross after suffering tremendous pain and dying for our sins so that we may have a chance of heaven, and that because of this we will have a chance at eternity with Him, then this world would be a better place.
Every day we are faced with challenges whether it be with people, physical ailments, or mental issues. And every day we should find the love in our hearts to endure. God just didn’t say to love every now and then, but He said to love. He says to let our yes be yes and our no be no.. We can’t go from being a person who loves to a person who hates. We have to be strong in our faith and we should let love rule our every single day.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 says, “ Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own; it is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things. Love never fails. There’s a lot of things in these verses to think about and work on to live up to God’s expectations. But it is doable!
Sad to say, but today in this world as we know it, everyone is lacking the qualities of love. If just everyone would start reading His word and finding out exactly what He wants, then perhaps the struggles of this world will turn around and things would be more peaceful. He also says that love will cover up a multitude of sin. We can help change the course of what is happening if only we all start working together at love. Let love be the rule of your day every day and be that good example for others to see so love rubs off into other’s hearts!