Choose Love

I John 4:7-11 ESV

Real Love is a gift from God.

If we are all being painfully honest we would have to admit we know little about realizing how much God loves each of us.

We can feel love for another and act on that warn and fuzzy feeling but love from God is much more than a warm fuzzy feeling.

In 1 John 4:7-11 we are given a glimpse of real love, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

While we want to believe we really really understand the love God has for us and we love others in the same way it means we would be willing to love someone we really don’t agree with or like.

So, think of someone you really really don’t agree with or like. Perhaps they have been rude to you and they are selfish and arrogant.

You might avoid this person or casually say hello when you see them.

Some people might even duck behind a door to avoid contact with them.

Now. Add a layer. They have ridiculed you because of your faith.

This is the person you would die for knowing your death meant they would turn to Jesus.

Think how you would feel about making the choice to die for them.

This is the person God is telling us to love in I John 4.

Now consider this…God gives you love and God provides the love you need to love that person.

You do not need to conjure it up. When we turn to God, that love will be given. So it’s not really your love you are offering. It’s God’s love in you that you rely on.

God in you loves your enemy.

God provides.

God gives you everything you need.

I don’t know about you, but I think that’s a game-changer that sets us free.

Deborah/acrazyjourney.com