What's LOVE got to do with it?

If I asked you what your number one goal in life is, what would your answer be? Safety? Happiness? Success? Fun?

Ask yourself that question now and see what your answer is. Be honest because your answer is important. Its important because your answer is what you unconsciously base your decisions on.

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” -Matthew 6:21

If say success is what drives you, when offered two different positions you would most likely pick the position that would help you advance farther. If it's safety, than you’ll likely choose the position with less risk and more security.

We each have different ways in which we approach things. We each move forward in our lives with different values we put on things like decisions and directions. Even if we're not acutely aware of it, we do have goals that we align our lives to. 

There's nothing wrong with having goals. Goals can help us to stay on track and  accomplish great things. What's important though, is that we understand there’s someone else who has a goal for our life too, and that’s God.

The interesting thing is that Gods number one goal for our lives is love. Since God is love, and God created you to love, he wants you to learn to love too. Jesus said that the entire Bible can be summed up in two commands: “Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39)

I don’t always see a great deal of love in the world, do you? It's there of course-but it seems to be overshadowed by a multitude of other things; hate, competition, worry, offense, misunderstanding and anger, to name a few. 

Let me point out that not only did Jesus point us toward the foundational importance of love; but, each of the New Testament writers taught that learning to love God and each other is the most important lesson God wants us to learn. (1 Corinthians 14:1) (1 John 3:14) (James 2:8) (1 Peter 4:8) …Just to name a few.

Why is love so important? Because the more we learn how to love authentically the more Jesus like we will become. Jesus puts priority on relationships. It should grab our attention that when we see Jesus in the upper room with his disciples, knowing that he was going to die the next day; that he was intentional with his final words to them. That of all the things he could share he told them to love one another. “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34)

Of course, love isn’t the only thing Jesus talked about, but all the things he did talk about have the same foundation…love. Humility, servanthood, care in judgement, doing to others as you would have done to you. All these things are built on love.

Here’s the obstacle we all face. We’re not always good at love. You might even be thinking right now about the failures you’ve had at all the things just mentioned. 

Don’t let the fact that you’ve stumbled keep you from finishing the race. Apostle Paul says in 1 Cor 9:24 “run in such a way as to get the prize” and “Lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares-Let us run with endurance”-Hebrews 12:1-2.

Instead of thinking of all the ways you’ve failed at loving like Jesus-Think of all the ways you’ve succeeded.

Think of a time a friend might have said “without a friend like you I couldn’t have made it through.” Imagine someone saying “Because of your simple act of kindness I was encouraged.” Think of the many words that have gone unsaid like, “When you held the door for me, when you smiled at me, when you encouraged me, when you listened to me…you made a difference.”

The reality is that there are far more people we have blessed in our lives than we will ever know. Strangers we’ve helped in passing, friends who were quietly encouraged by you but never verbalized it. People who have simply observed you loving another, who have been moved or encouraged by your actions. You’re not as bad at this “loving your neighbor” as you might think. You are making an impression more than you know.

On the days you find it hard to love like Jesus, remember that you don’t do it in your own strength. You do it in his! You can love because “He first loved you.” When loving others becomes challenging pray for his strength and ask for his power. Simply thank God for loving you, and then see what happens. You’ll be surprised by what you’re capable of….in his strength.

 -Pastor Patti