How do I love Thee?
Good Morning:
“ I love you, I love you not, I love you, I love you not.” “ I can’t stand you, I want to pinch your head off.” “ I can’t love you --you only cause me pain and suffering.” “ God, please help me love and be nice to this person because he is made in your image.” Love, will and unconditional -- these three words have to be thought of as a group that belong together. We have all at one time or other had a difficult time loving someone let alone liking them -- for whatever reason. God loves everyone, and he loves them unconditionally. He does not always like what they do but it is his will to love them unconditionally. Unconditionally -- just as is, with or without blemish, without opinion or judgment, just as it is. Will is the part of God, that is always perfect and is the right thing, no matter what. Our will is either going to be what we want to do or to be determined to do what God wants me to do, putting myself aside.
I Corinthians 13 is a perfect example of showing unconditional love, submitting to the perfect love of the Father out of the love that He has shown to us out of a grateful heart. Vs 1-3-- show us that we are to love unconditionally no matter what. It is a voluntary act of our will -- the ability to see beyond all things and hurts. It is not motivated by our external situations -- it always reacts appropriately to each situation. Love is one of the best spiritual gifts that you can possess. In verses 4-7: describes the characteristics of love-- no resentment, it is kind no matter what, it not prideful or easily provoked, it has no evil thoughts. It is a picture of service to others, able to bear all things, not gullible and able to with stand assaults from the enemy. There is not a critical spirit, there is hope and the ability to be positive. This is where doing the will of God enters in. Having the ability to love unconditionally is a choice. It is saying, even though I don’t feel like it or they do not deserve it, I am going to do it because that is what God wants me to do. We all have people at one time in our lives or even right now, we are having difficulty loving or even having the desire to be nice to them. Vs. 8-13-- love will always be necessary, it will never become dated, or eliminated. We are to strive for love, love first for God and then even for each other -- yes even when it hurts or we just don’t want to. The will -- yes, it always wants what it wants . When we cave into our will, I don’t know about you, but most of the time nothing ( especially love ) comes from doing what we want. Most of the time the consequences of doing things out of our own will are not what we expect. By submitting to the will of God and loving others unconditionally, gives you a clearer view of God’s great love for you. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I stand pretty amazed at the unconditional love of God and how it has impacted my life. It absorbed hurts and does not fighting back. It has to be freely given. Your tendency to find fault with others will decrease and your ability to obey God will increase. It is a choice, not whether or not we feel affection for them. God gives us the strength and all we need to love them. How would you feel if you could show everyone a clear picture of unconditional love in every situation, doing the will of the Father and not acting on your own feelings? Putting all else aside and just being able to love without even thinking about it-- whether the people are deserving or undeserving?
Father: Your love for us is fierce, one of the mightiest forces in the universe, whispering, roaring, creating and redeeming…you take great delight in us. Help us to be unconditional in the way we love others. Show us how to love perfectly with your love and your standard, our wills washed in submission to you for the sake of others. Forgive us when we put conditions on our love or let hurts effect our love. Teach us to show and give out pure love-- the kind you give us. Thank you.
Leadership: love your enemies and drive them crazy! Love supernaturally, make them wonder, love unconditionally, and let God’s love be perfected in you. Janice CR Encourager Coach-Team FBC Rogers
“ I love you, I love you not, I love you, I love you not.” “ I can’t stand you, I want to pinch your head off.” “ I can’t love you --you only cause me pain and suffering.” “ God, please help me love and be nice to this person because he is made in your image.” Love, will and unconditional -- these three words have to be thought of as a group that belong together. We have all at one time or other had a difficult time loving someone let alone liking them -- for whatever reason. God loves everyone, and he loves them unconditionally. He does not always like what they do but it is his will to love them unconditionally. Unconditionally -- just as is, with or without blemish, without opinion or judgment, just as it is. Will is the part of God, that is always perfect and is the right thing, no matter what. Our will is either going to be what we want to do or to be determined to do what God wants me to do, putting myself aside.
I Corinthians 13 is a perfect example of showing unconditional love, submitting to the perfect love of the Father out of the love that He has shown to us out of a grateful heart. Vs 1-3-- show us that we are to love unconditionally no matter what. It is a voluntary act of our will -- the ability to see beyond all things and hurts. It is not motivated by our external situations -- it always reacts appropriately to each situation. Love is one of the best spiritual gifts that you can possess. In verses 4-7: describes the characteristics of love-- no resentment, it is kind no matter what, it not prideful or easily provoked, it has no evil thoughts. It is a picture of service to others, able to bear all things, not gullible and able to with stand assaults from the enemy. There is not a critical spirit, there is hope and the ability to be positive. This is where doing the will of God enters in. Having the ability to love unconditionally is a choice. It is saying, even though I don’t feel like it or they do not deserve it, I am going to do it because that is what God wants me to do. We all have people at one time in our lives or even right now, we are having difficulty loving or even having the desire to be nice to them. Vs. 8-13-- love will always be necessary, it will never become dated, or eliminated. We are to strive for love, love first for God and then even for each other -- yes even when it hurts or we just don’t want to. The will -- yes, it always wants what it wants . When we cave into our will, I don’t know about you, but most of the time nothing ( especially love ) comes from doing what we want. Most of the time the consequences of doing things out of our own will are not what we expect. By submitting to the will of God and loving others unconditionally, gives you a clearer view of God’s great love for you. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I stand pretty amazed at the unconditional love of God and how it has impacted my life. It absorbed hurts and does not fighting back. It has to be freely given. Your tendency to find fault with others will decrease and your ability to obey God will increase. It is a choice, not whether or not we feel affection for them. God gives us the strength and all we need to love them. How would you feel if you could show everyone a clear picture of unconditional love in every situation, doing the will of the Father and not acting on your own feelings? Putting all else aside and just being able to love without even thinking about it-- whether the people are deserving or undeserving?
Father: Your love for us is fierce, one of the mightiest forces in the universe, whispering, roaring, creating and redeeming…you take great delight in us. Help us to be unconditional in the way we love others. Show us how to love perfectly with your love and your standard, our wills washed in submission to you for the sake of others. Forgive us when we put conditions on our love or let hurts effect our love. Teach us to show and give out pure love-- the kind you give us. Thank you.
Leadership: love your enemies and drive them crazy! Love supernaturally, make them wonder, love unconditionally, and let God’s love be perfected in you. Janice CR Encourager Coach-Team FBC Rogers
As I've struggled with my recovery from back surgery and all the other things that developed during my hospital stay (kidney failure, pneumonia, blood loss from unknown source, blood transfusion, gall bladder inflammation, volume overload which led to congestive heart failure), I've wanted to dwell on the mistakes that hospital personnel made; reminding myself that "I nearly died".
ReplyDeleteDuring those close calls, I felt serentiy, peace, and total surrender to God's will in my life and acceptance of 'whatever' his plan was for me; whether I lived or died. The devil would love it, if I became filled with bitterness and resentment toward those that were entrusted with my care. I'm reminding myself that God was and continues to be soverign and in control of all things. Todays message on love challenges me to reach out in love to everyone; even doctor's and nurse's that seemed to make mistakes. I pray God's love will so fill me that I have compassion for them and complete joy in knowing that God had a purpose in everything that happened. I'm reminded of Phil.4:8-9 "...Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure and lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you."Life Recovery Bible, NLT.