Last week the Good Morning Girls studied 1 John 4:7-21;
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know that have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also." (NASB, emphasis mine)
That is a lot of talk about love! Does anyone else feel like saying, "I GET IT! We are supposed to love. Now, can we move on?!" I'll admit, day after day of reading the same thing over and over last week kind of got to me. I knoooow this is important, but it also makes me feel pretty discouraged at times. Especially when I'm sitting down to do my Bible study right after speaking harshly to my cranky son or losing my temper with the dogs. It is completely beyond my power to love in the way that God loves me. If I'm honest, I have a hard enough time always acting out of love towards those I'm close to, much less, those who reject me or are rude to me. I fail at this simple and most important commandment every.single.day. So this week as it has been time for Bible study each day I've been hoping to open up the Word and see something else... something I might actually be able to accomplish! And yet, that is exactly the point, I cannot accomplish this on my own. It is only by His Spirit abiding in me that I can truly love my (hypothetical) brother (or son, or husband, or friend, or enemy for that matter...).
"By [love] we know that we abide in Him and He is us, because He has given us of His Spirit."
God's Spirit empowers me to love my son even when he is throwing a major tantrum. God's Spirit empowers me to love my husband when he tweaks my last nerve after a long day dealing with a cranky baby and two unruly dogs. God's Spirit empowers me to love my friends and family when they say or do something insensitive or hurtful and I feel like retaliating. And it is in these moments of supernatural love that I am assured of my salvation and the extreme difference that my choice to abide in Him makes in my everyday life (and in the lives of those around me).
God loved me first. He still loves me even when I am (extremely) unlovable. He loves me when I reject Him and choose to do the exact opposite of what He is calling me to do. He loves me so much He sent His perfect Son to pay the price for all the wrong, mean, downright evil things I've done. A sacrifice that, as a mother, I cannot fathom. If He did that for me, I can at least show a little grace and love towards others. I may require a little supernatural help, but I will Pay It Forward. Will you?
No comments:
Post a Comment