This is Love

I think I'm funny. I mean, I think I'm really funny...And interesting. In fact, if I could, I would spend most of my day talking to or about myself. Now, I'm aware that this is a little self-obsessive, and possibly a tiny bit arrogant; however, I spent my entire high school career with this thought as my mindset, and it often led me into trouble. You have to understand I never had a problem with self-esteem, I always viewed myself as someone deserving of love. There is a problem, however, lying within this mindset that led me to not truly love those around me, and I believe it might also hinder some of you, as well.

Although I never had any problem viewing myself as worthy of love, I began to view most others around me as undeserving of it. I held many people to a set of standards and expectations that could never be met, and if you stepped outside of those boundaries, I chose you as unworthy of my love. The question I had to begin to ask myself was: If God could forgive me of all the things I had done, who was I to claim someone else as unworthy of love? I knew all the terrible things I had done, and God had forgiven me of all those things. However, I still couldn't love others like Jesus loved me.

See, the problem is that I viewed love as something in which I had a choice in. Although, it is true that love is a decision, as a Christian, love was no longer a choice for me. The writer of 1st John perfectly illustrates this:

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death.-1st John 3:14

As John states in this verse, when we accept Jesus as the leader of our life we no longer choose to love, but love becomes who we are. In other words, if we do not love than how can we truly say that we belong to Jesus?

However, some of us cannot truly love another person, because we view ourselves as unworthy of love. Maybe you have a hard time accepting the love that Jesus has all ready given you, and so to love someone as yourself wouldn't mean much. Fortunately, God has called us to love others as Jesus loved us, and Jesus sacrificed everything, including his life, for us.

The question we must ask ourselves is: Am I truly living the love that Jesus lived?

Explore
Read 1st John chapter 3:11-24.

Pray
That God can grant you a spirit of love and compassion for those that don't fit your standards, and that you can begin to accept the love that He has already given you.

Discuss
In what ways can we practically love someone in our life this week?