Good morning beloved!
Do you remember where Jesus said in His Word in Luke 6:32,
- If you love only those who love you, why should you get credit for that? Even sinners love those who love them!
Loving the lovely is easy, but is it possible to love the unlovely? Jesus said it was and here is how we do it: Know that we might not be able change them, but we can develop our love until we can love them right where they are.
Loving people, no matter how badly they act or how rotten their attitude is, is something we can do, and we do it by faith.
Jesus loved and He commanded us to do the same. As a matter of fact, love is the essence of Christianity. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22:37-40,
- You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.
There is absolutely nothing more important than learning to love. In fact, how accurately you perfect your love walk will determing how much of the will of God you accomplish. That is because every other spiritual force derives its action from love. For example, the Bible tells us in Galatians 5:6 that,
• Faith works by love.
Answered prayer is almost an impossibility when we step outside of love and refuse to forgive our brother or sister in Christ.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 tells us that without love, tongues and prophecy will not work. All the truths that you have learned from God’s Word work by love. They will profit you nothing unless you live the love of God.
Continuing in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, we can see a perfect picture of how love behaves ~ It is patient and kind. It is not jealous or proud. It does not behave rudely or selfishly and it is not touchy. 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.
It sounds like a tall order, but do not despair. You are a love creature. God recreated your spirit in the image of LOVE HIMSELF. And God has sent His LOVE Spirit to live in you and teach you how to love as He does.
Romans 5:5 declares,
- …THE LOVE OF GOD has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.
I exhort you to begin loving people with the same love that is being developed in you. The love that has been shed abroad in our hearts loves people.
Releasing THE LOVE OF GOD today,
Lisa Gordon
Jesus City Church