1 Corinthians 13:13 - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
Love, the one little word that has the biggest and most powerful meaning. It's the easiest thing to do, and the hardest thing to do depending on the circumstances.
Loving your child is easy, loving your friends is easy, loving your pets is easy, loving people who bring you joy is easy. But, Jesus didn't say just to love the people who love you back.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse (Romans 12:14).
But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:27-28).
Do you love the guy who cuts you off in traffic and flips you the finger? Do you love the neighbor who constantly takes your parking spot? Do you love the co-worker who steals all the credit for your work?
Do you love the person who vandalized your car, or the one who broke into your home and stole your family heirlooms?
How about the one who murdered your brother, raped your mother, the one who bullies your child at school everyday, or the one who wishes you were dead?
That's the real Love Challenge. That's the real deal there, the hardest thing humanly possible as far as I"m concerned, the ultimate challenge and test of a christian.
Jesus passed that test. While they were pounding the nails into his hands, he prayed for them, he forgave them and he loved them. In Luke 23:34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
Could you do that? Would you do that? That's what Jesus was talking about, that's the golden ticket right there.....that's the defintion of LOVE in action.
This is something that I"ll be working on for the rest of my life, and the progress is EXTREMELY SLOW! But, it's worth it.
Every time someone wrongs you, use it as an opportunity for personal growth. Easier said then done, I have a hot temper myself, so this is a real challenge for me as my first reaction when someone slaps me is to slap back. So, it's a tough one for sure for alot of us and it doesn't come easy or automatic.
I remember watching this prison documentary on tv a while back. The mother of a murder victim went to the prison to meet her sons killer. She shook his hand, sat down at the table with him and asked him why he murdered her son. He told her it was a worthless gang killing, and attempted a lame apology. The mother listened to what he had to say, and then she told him that she forgave him. She actually went there to tell him that she forgave him, and she meant it, you could tell. I thought to myself, wow, that woman is a spiritual giant. Could I do that? I don't know, probably not, but I"m working on it. How about you? God does not expect perfection from us, but he does expect for us to try as hard as we possibly can.
But Jesus never said it would be easy, but he did say it would be worth it.
Love, the one little word that has the biggest and most powerful meaning. It's the easiest thing to do, and the hardest thing to do depending on the circumstances.
Loving your child is easy, loving your friends is easy, loving your pets is easy, loving people who bring you joy is easy. But, Jesus didn't say just to love the people who love you back.
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse (Romans 12:14).
But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you (Luke 6:27-28).
Do you love the guy who cuts you off in traffic and flips you the finger? Do you love the neighbor who constantly takes your parking spot? Do you love the co-worker who steals all the credit for your work?
Do you love the person who vandalized your car, or the one who broke into your home and stole your family heirlooms?
How about the one who murdered your brother, raped your mother, the one who bullies your child at school everyday, or the one who wishes you were dead?
That's the real Love Challenge. That's the real deal there, the hardest thing humanly possible as far as I"m concerned, the ultimate challenge and test of a christian.
Jesus passed that test. While they were pounding the nails into his hands, he prayed for them, he forgave them and he loved them. In Luke 23:34 Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.
Could you do that? Would you do that? That's what Jesus was talking about, that's the golden ticket right there.....that's the defintion of LOVE in action.
This is something that I"ll be working on for the rest of my life, and the progress is EXTREMELY SLOW! But, it's worth it.
Every time someone wrongs you, use it as an opportunity for personal growth. Easier said then done, I have a hot temper myself, so this is a real challenge for me as my first reaction when someone slaps me is to slap back. So, it's a tough one for sure for alot of us and it doesn't come easy or automatic.
I remember watching this prison documentary on tv a while back. The mother of a murder victim went to the prison to meet her sons killer. She shook his hand, sat down at the table with him and asked him why he murdered her son. He told her it was a worthless gang killing, and attempted a lame apology. The mother listened to what he had to say, and then she told him that she forgave him. She actually went there to tell him that she forgave him, and she meant it, you could tell. I thought to myself, wow, that woman is a spiritual giant. Could I do that? I don't know, probably not, but I"m working on it. How about you? God does not expect perfection from us, but he does expect for us to try as hard as we possibly can.
But Jesus never said it would be easy, but he did say it would be worth it.
