Dear
friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves
has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God,
because God is love. (1 John 4:7-8)
Every person deserves to be loved. Every
person needs love. If God is love then I ought to love
every person. I have even learned to love myself more. God is within every
person so for me to reject someone is to reject God himself! If I claim to love God then I ought to love people
whether they like me or not because it’s a command.
In fact this is love for God: To keep his
commands and his commands are not burdensome. (1 John 5:3)
There is something about loving people
past their issues. Love should be the core of my life. Every person is made in
God’s image. It doesn’t matter how I feel because I know I have to learn to
love people no matter what. I have been hurt, I have been betrayed, I have been
scoffed at, but you know what? So was Jesus. If I claim to be a Christian I want
to obey God’s commands. The bible tells me, for instance, to love my enemies.
Jesus says “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do well to
those who hate you.” (Luke 6:27)
You see it is biblical; when I love my
enemies I win :). Also If I love
my enemies and treat them well, I truly show that Jesus is Lord of my life. I
make God smile. As my days go by, I learn to quiet my negative feelings and
trust the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps me show love for those I struggle
to love.
Before coming to Cape Town, I used to be scared of homeless people. For some reason I always thought that there was something different about them. I would bless them but it would be out of fear and not love. The moment God began to challenge me to see them the way He sees them, my life changed. I am so thankful for my journey to Cape Town. Serving at Hillsong church really changed my life. I learn to reach out to the lost via outreach communities or phone calls, fellowship with people on a weekly basis, invest in others, dig the gold in others, and help new Christians flourish in their relationship with God. All of this made me realize that love is God’s reason for creating the world. I am no longer afraid of homeless people anymore; in fact I work with them sometimes. I learned to care for them genuinely and also to treat them as God’s people. Glory be to God!
Because of God’s love in my life I was
able to transform and grow. His love was a platform for me to launch myself
into new territory and because of my faithfulness lives were changed in the
process.
“God isn’t so interested sometimes in the work He does through us; He’s interested in the works He does in us.” –Kris Vallotton
I have to remind myself daily that it’s
not about what I do for God but why I do it. My gifts and talents mean nothing
if my driving force is not love.
If
I speak God’s word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making
everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “jump”,
and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the
poor and even go to the stake to be burned as martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve
gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say what I believe, and what I do, I’m
bankrupt without love.
(1 Corinthians 13:2-7)
I just want to love, I just want to let
love guide my life. I just want to obey God’s commands because I am nothing
without him. Love is more than simply warm feelings; it is revealed in actions.
When I call on God to supernaturally empower me to love, I am able to help when
it’s inconvenient, I am able to give when it hurts, I am able to devote energy
to others’ welfare rather than my own and I am able to absorb the hurt from
others without complaining or fighting back. You see, by simply loving someone
I can change their life’s outcome. Accepting God in my life is a lifetime
engagement that I made. It requires me to die to self, completely. I still find
it difficult sometimes to love the way God loves but the moment I look up to
God; I find grace. I always have to remind myself that everything is possible
if I believe it. When I am challenged, I pray and I leave it up to God.
If you are in this season where you feel
challenged to love your enemies, I encourage you to sit at God’s feet and pour
out your heart to him; let him show your real heart and ask him to help you
during that pruning process. He wants you to be complete and whole. He wants
you to resemble Christ. He wants you to be a real disciple and not a
counterfeit. The process is not going to be comfortable but it’s so worth it
and it’s needed. It’s when we leave our comfort zone that we grow. Guard your
heart by making sure your affections push you in the right direction and let love guide you.
Love is patient
Love is kind
Love does not envy
Love does not boast
Love is not proud
Love is not rude
Love is not self seeking
Love is not easily angered
Love keeps no records of wrongs
Love never fails …(1 Corinthians 13:4)
Replace the word love with God and it
will reveal how He loves. Replace the word love with our own name and it will
reveal how we’re meant to love.
*Final
Note- My life should be a reflection of God’s love. To my neighbor I could be
the only bible they get to read.
Let’s
pray,
