Loving isn't easy...
"You’ve got to love people like Jesus did!"
So much easier said than done! How could I possibly show love to those that literally talk behind my back, mock, backstab, betray me? It’s better to just cut off the negative energy and keep it moving!
Well then let’s look at the definition of love as a starting point. Love by definition is:
THE WORLD: “ an intense feeling of deep affection.”
(Let’s park that here, we can tackle this in another post!)
THE WORD: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NLT
I know I know we have read this a thousand times, we probably know it off by head. But have you really read it? Have you allowed God to reveal to you its true meaning? A way to develop our understanding of what love looks like is to remove the “love” and insert your name. Janet is patient and kind. Janet is not jealous... does it hit you now? Still seem impossible? Probably because alot of us (myself included) have confused love with trust. No where in that scripture did it describe love as trusting. This is the key misconception that prevents us from truly walking in the love that Christ has shown to us. I want to challenge your ideologies of love and trust with this scripture:
“Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.” John 2:23-25 NLT
NOT EVEN JESUS TRUSTED THE HEART OF MAN.
He knew truly what was inside the human heart and he understood that us humans can change like the wind.
Jesus’ love for us doesn’t mean that He trusts us, it’s not dependent on that at all. It’s dependant on Him alone. By loving on others it doesn’t mean you trust them. Love and trust are not mutually inclusive. We get these things confused and wonder why we get hurt or think we cannot love others!
We’ve put our trust in the wrong thing. By loving on people we do not put our trust in them: that they will give us that same love back,
that they will see the love shown and stop hurting us,
that they will even recognise and understand or appreciate it.
But we put out trust in God who grants us our salvation, peace, happiness, joy the list is literally endless.
“Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:20 NLT
Love others, but trust GOD! This is the secret to loving on those who have shown all manners of evil to you.
Why do I stress this so much? Why is it so important to love?
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
Jesus said it himself. Loving others is just as important as loving the Almighty God.
But that’s not it. There is a prerequisite to be be able to show this love to such people, you must be so filled by the love of God that it literally bursts at the seams and has no option than to be shown to others.
If you don’t have this then you’ll be running on empty and that is another blogpost all together.
For now I leave you with this. If you forget everything else in this post, just remember:
"Love others, but trust God."
Stay blessed!
Overwhelmed by His love,
JD
xo
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