While I thought he was a wonderful person, I quickly grew tired of his sermons. Everyone of them ended with the same message: love one another.
That's a great message. But it didn't seem like the answer to everything back then.
Now I'm not so sure. I think he was on to something.
The older I get, the more I realize the importance of loving others well. I'm learning that inside every person is a little girl or boy who wants to be loved. They want to know that someone sees them ... really sees them ... and loves them.
Yesterday, I read 1 Corinthians 13. Normally I read the part the defines love. But yesterday, I read the introductory passages, verses 1-3.
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."So, I can be the best keeper of my home, but if I don't love my family well, it is just a show.
I can be the most proficient editor, but if I don't love my editing team, it's an empty offering.
I can be the most talented ministry leader, but if I don't love my volunteers, it's nothing.
I can talk a good game, but if I'm not loving others well, I'm just an annoying, clanging gong. And I'm old enough to remember the Gong Show and that's not what I want to be.
This call to love others well is my second greatest calling - just under loving God well.
It's not always easy, especially when it's not returned in the way I think it should be. But that's the interesting thing about God's commands - they are never dependent on what anyone else does.
Yet the rewards are amazing when I don't worry about that. When I'm sowing love, God reaps a harvest in the right season.
In His Love,
Glynnis
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5 comments:
What a timely post, Glynnis, and so so true. It must have something to do with getting "up there" in years, because I sense the same thing.
Really, it all boils down to loving through thick and thin, loving whether it's convenient or not, and trusting that God's love never fails.
It's a prayer I'll never stop praying: "God, give me YOUR love for people!"
Hugs to you!
Yet another nudge/reminder from God about loving others unconditionally. To respond to a very painful circumstance in my life right now according to my self-centered human nature would be to lash out in anger or to simply shut a person out. However, God has been gently reminding me that He calls me to love as He does, unconditionally. It is a daily walk, allowing Him to love through me, when I don't have the strenght (and some days, not even the desire) to do so.
Yet, I must. Because He does.
Glynnis, I appreciate your honesty. I have often struggled to love like Jesus loves- sacrificially. unconditionally. wholeheartedly. I met a girl at She Speaks this year named Kirsten. The woman oozed the love of Jesus. Seriously. And I knew God sent her to me to show me how to love. She was literally a Jesus magnet as she encouraged and poured love into every woman she came into contact with. The Lord taught me through her example,as she reminded me during one conversation how "love covers a multitude of sins." I think when you have a black-and-white personality like I do it can be hard to love. Right is right and wrong is wrong. But God is unveiling the definition of "grace" in a new way during this season of my life. I am so thankful we serve a God who showers His unmerited favor upon us.
Oh Glynnis,
I can truly relate.
Many years ago, when our church was going through a very painful "split," the LORD spoke to my heart about the importance of loving one another! My husband was serving as an elder and so the pain of those who left spilled into our home and family. But God.
I praise HIM for His unconditional, everlasting LOVE.
How wonderful that we can experience it and offer to others!
Loving unconditionally...that is what is so hard. Expecting nothing in return. I am so thankful God gives me the greatest example of this love in His Son, Jesus. I join Julie in her prayer. Father, give me YOUR love for YOUR people!!
Love you, Glynnis. Thank you for this wonderful message.
Wendy
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