Loving God, Loving Others, Loving Myself
08 Jul 2010 Comments Off
in Encourage, Freedom, God, God's Purpose for Me, Hope, Love, Peace, Purpose, Rule For Life
Now that I have written my Rule For Life I am trying to keep that information fresh in my mind everyday.
Once again here is my “Rule For Life”
1) Love and glorify God.
2) Love, encourage and build up others.
3) Love and care for myself so 1 & 2 can happen.
Living a life filled with love for God, others and myself may sound like an easy task, but it doesn’t happen by accident. If I am to live a life that reflects love for God, others and myself, it will have to be lived on purpose.
I have not always understood what love is … true love is rarely portrayed in movies or on TV.
True love is so much more.
Love is a gift to be given often and freely. Love provides, what the one being loved, desires or needs. Love is not self-seeking. Love looks for ways to bless the other person without any thoughts of getting something in return.
Of course the Bible tells us what love is better than any description I can give. So here are some verses I would like to share with you about love:
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:10This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 1 John 5:3
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. 2 John 6
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Love is the target I want to hit consistently. I can hit that target when:
- I am kind.
- I am not boastful or proud.
- I am not rude and when I am not putting myself first all the time.
- I don’t fly off the handle.
- I forgive and forget.
- I rejoice in truth.
- I protect.
- I trust.
- I hope.
- I don’t give up.
- I obey God.
Obeying God means walking in love. Walking in love is obedience to God.
Love is not a mushy, feel good thing all the time. We may feel that way from time to time, but love is a commitment to another no matter what. We don’t see a lot of real love in our day.
God’s love for me and you cost Him the life of His Only Son, Jesus.
Love is free to the one who receives, but for the one who gives love there is a cost and sometimes the cost is extremely high.
But love is worth it all!
Loving God, loving others and loving myself… Yes it is sometimes hard, and it may hurt sometimes, but when I truly love there is peace and freedom beyond description.
May God empower us all to live lives of love.
