Today, I thank You, God, for Love. Your love and the love of others.
Love is as necessary to life as food and water. I know that now. A recent event for some reason has given me a sort of revelation.
There's no greater love than the love of Christ. His love is so great that He not only died and rose again for our salvation's sake, but, when He left this earth for good, He also made sure that His love would remain in a meaningful way.
Enter, the Holy Spirit: "If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” (John 14:15-17)
We, as humans, are incapable of loving the way God loves us. We're incapable of effectively loving in a way that heals, forgives, trusts, comforts, and positively impacts others in a significant way. But God is and does and has left us with the Holy Spirit so that we may get from Him what we need in order to do what only He does best.
I can honestly say that there have been instances in which I was spiritually able to borrow from the Holy Spirit the love and words I needed to comfort someone that I quite literally felt no love or affection for before the love and words were extended. The result of my allowing God to flow through and use me in this way was a newfound love and affection for the person to whom I ministered.
A minister - well, now Elder - at my church, Jim, once spoke to the church about love being more about action than our personal feelings. He also said that love is something we as Christians are obligated to give, REGARDLESS of whether or not we "feel" like it. In fact, when we press forward and choose to love in obedience to God, we will more often than not find that the feelings will follow. At first it sounded strange to me to hear that...but as I looked back, I realized that he was 100 percent right.
And yet, I still fail to do this as consistently as I should. I've allowed my feelings to take over. Recently, someone extended to me the kind of love that only Christ could possibly give, because I KNOW this person didn't "feel like it." As the recipient of this GIFT of love, my heart was significantly softened; I was healed of my pain and anger, and it was put in me to apologize and move forward in a positive direction.
This is a gift I have robbed others of receiving due to selfishness. This is a gift I could and should consistently give to others. This is the gift that could change a person's life for the better, to give them the encouragement and strength to go on in this terribly cold, harsh world.
I MUST DO BETTER...
Until next time,
XOXOXO
Jessika
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