Love is an action word.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Jn 14:15 ESV
Love is so great that it encompasses every part of life. Love is a thought about someone else. Love is a feeling of warmth and affection. Love is a decision, especially when those we love are not acting so lovable towards us, huh? And of course, Love is action. If we say we love but do not act in love, more often than not, then do we love? (see 1Co 13:1-3) I have to say “more often than not,” because, as you recall, we are children who are not going to get this loving thing perfect. We waver, and so sometimes we act selfish and sometimes we act selfless. The love we are talking about is God’s selfless Love, so we can see that sometimes we are following Jesus and sometimes we are acting childish. This is our reality…although it is never an excuse! Big difference between the two, my Friends!
Love should be the motivating factor of everything we think, say and do. This comes with growth because it certainly does not come naturally for us humans. When we arrive on this planet, everything is all about ME! But hopefully we grow out of that MMI-centered mentality, and begin to live for those we claim to love. A child begins to obey his parents because he loves them and wants to please them. When we love someone we want to make them joyful, right? As we begin to obey the ones we love, we begin to realize, “Hey, life is not about ME!”
This moves us closer and closer to being like Jesus, who is the only 100% self-LESS Human who ever walked this earth. But because we love, we obey, and as we obey God, we open our lives up to Him and others, which makes our own more fulfilling.
Join me in memorizing 52 verses this year:
January: 1- Jn 3:16; 2- 2Co 5:17; 3- Jas 2:26; 4- Eph 2:10
February: 5- Jn 10:10; 6- Ro 6:23; 7- Rev 21:4; 8- Php 4:13
March: 9- 1Pe 5:7; 10- Jn 8:32; 11- Dt 30:19; 12- Jn 3:30; 13- 2Chron 20:3
April: 14- 2Chron 20:12; 15- 2Chron 20:15b; 16- 2Chron 20:17
May: 17- Ro 8:28; 18- 1Co 13:13; 19- Php 2:12; 20- Mt 5:4
June: 21- Lk 23:42; 22- Jas 4:7; 23- Pr 22:6; 24- Mt 5:3; 25- Jn 14:6
26- Jas 2:19
27- Dt 31:8
28- Jn 14:15
<>< Peace, Diane
