Ephesians Chapter 5, verse 2 is the scripture quoted for this virtue prayer from the bible. I like to look back to verse 1 also: "Try, then, to imitate God, as children of His that He loves, and follow Christ by loving as He loved you, giving Himself up in our place as a fragrant sacrifice to God." (read also Chapter 4, verses 25-32)
The prayer asks God to grant that we may learn to LIVE a life of love, through the spirit who dwells in us.
Isn't this a powerful, wonderful prayer? What does it mean to you? What is LOVE? I'm sure the bible is full of literally hundreds of love passages. It says that GOD IS LOVE! Are we willing to go as far as God did to show His love for us? I know I could never sacrifice one of my children like God did, and that was His ONLY son! (John 3:16) I'm sure He doesn't literally expect that of us, but He does want us to surrender our hearts and souls totally to Him, and follow in His footsteps. John chapter 13 verses 34 and 35: "I give you a new commandment - love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples."
There's a song we've sung so many times: "Oh, how I love Jesus, oh, how I love Jesus, Oh, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me"
I want my love for Jesus to be reflected in the way I show love for others - even those who may be difficult to love. If I can soften even one hard heart by merely showing I care, and show the love of Christ to them, maybe that one person will soften another's heart with love, then that one will reach out to others, and so on and so on and so on . . . maybe our cities, our nation, our world would all know the love of God, and just think of how wonderful that world would be!
Think of some creative ways to love your neighbor. Give a small gift to someone you don't think deserves it, strike up a conversation with that person looking so alone and apart from the crowd - he or she might just need a friend right now, bring a bag of groceries to the single mom down the street - she could be struggling to put food on the table this week, just smile and say hello to the next person you pass on the street, the hall, or the store - watch their face light up. There are so many ways to demonstrate the love of Christ. Some are very simple, while some may involve a little more effort, money or time. Let the Holy Spirit - who IS love - lead you. He knows just how, when and to whom His love should be expressed. Is He putting someone on your heart right now? Love them!
"And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes they'll know we are Christians by our love."
7 comments:
LOVE means never having to say you're sorry. Remember Love Story? Anyway, just kidding about that. Love is getting up out of bed because your neice calls to say her mom's car broke down and they are stranded. So you get dressed, get in your car and drive over to the place where they are supposed to be but there is no car, no sister and no neice. So, since they said the EXXON gas station when they called and you can see that there is not an EXXON station on the cross steets, you drive all around the blocks trying to find them. And when you don't find them you drive all the way to their place hoping that their car is outside and then it isn't. So you drive around the block planning to head back to the spot where they said they broke down and you are all worried that something "bad" happened. Then there on the corner is your neice! She saw you pull up front and ran down to tell you that they got a ride home from a police officer. And instead of getting mad because you have to work in the morning, you got woke up, you were out driving around in the cold dark night, yeah instead of getting mad because they didn't call to say "nevermind", instead of getting mad like I would have in the old days, I am just filled with relief that they got home safe. That is love.
It is easy to love people who love you. The true test is loving your enemies or the folks that other people seem to have written off or find annoying or don't fit the societal definition of normal or acceptable. There is the true test of love. And love is seeing that something is wrong and hurting others and then doing something to change it or stop it even though you know you are going to get some of the fall out for getting involved. Love is recognizing that God loves everyone. God's desire is that NONE should perish. God is especially fond of all of us. And we are supposed to emulate that.
Okay, one last thing. Love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. The way I see it if God can love me, well then there isn't anyone that I should not love too. Whew! Got on a roll here. Sorry. Oh did I mention it was a cold, dark and rainy night? Well, Washington after all, you probably knew it was raining without me having to say so. Sorry for getting so carried away. Aunt Lonnie: feel free to "edit" my comments. Love is the harmony of Faith.
Actually, Michelle, you are right on. You have a lot to share, a lot of wisdom, so you may as well get it all out there! I like what you said about loving those that are hard to love. That's what God did for us. We were His enemies and He made the ultimate sacrifice for us - with no guarantee of reciprocity.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom, too, Mom. This kind of thinking puts me in the right place so I can be a loving teacher firmly guiding those youngsters to love learning!
Thank you so much for your comments, Michelle - I never want you to think you can't post anything you want to here. I love every single word of what you posted. Such wonderful thoughts on love, and a great story. Thank you!
And thank you, too, Debbie. You are a good teacher, and I know it's because you really do care for each child you teach. Think of how many kids have been touched by you over the last 20 years or so that you have been teaching and caring and loving them.
God is so pleased with both of you. Keep up the good news in your lives!
Anybody else want to share a love story?
Love isn't going to bed together every night. Love is getting up every morning to face the day together, with each other in mind, with others well-being and needs getting the same (or more) attention than your own.
Love is patient. Love is kind. Love never holds a grudge.
Pretty tall orders all. No one promised following Jesus would be easy. The promise is that you will live forever surrounded by pure, unadulterated love.
Hey, mom, that is the line from the old Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda movie "Yours, Mine and Ours" isn't it. Good line.
Faith is the melody, Bible is the lyrics, and Love is the three part harmony (God the Father, J.C. the Son, and the Holy Spirit). A song in the heart of all believers.
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