February 20, 2015
John 13:34-35
(ESV)
A new commandment I give to
you, that you love one another:
just as I have loved you, you also are to love
one another.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples,
if you
have love for one another.”
A seemingly simple command, “Love One Another”, I know my
life feels more peaceful when I am feeling loved, which in turn makes me want
to give it back. The reality of life on
earth is that we are not always in a position to feel love because the people
we must sometimes share our days with are not always the loving type. This has effected me greatly over the years,
being hurt by someone and holding a grudge or holding back my love because,
after all, why would I show you love when you don’t even give me a glimpse of
kindness.
I have been practicing intentional love, just as Christ as
commanded, as I go throughout my day with everyone that I encounter. I don’t have to go overboard with gushes of
hugs and statements of love and how we are to love one other always. A simple smile, a kind response, showing
respect, listening to someone’s troubles; there are oh so many ways that we can
simply love on one another. Living a
much more peaceful day to day life is the result of me loving all, as well as
seeing the love given back to me. I am
so grateful for Christ’s commandment and commitment of love. We truly have nothing if we don’t have
love. It is the greatest of great, along
with that is a much warmer heart for us all.
1 Corinthians 13
(ESV)
The Way of Love
13 If I speak in the tongues of
men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2
And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am
nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be
burned,
but have not love, I gain nothing.
but have not love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient and kind; love
does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its
own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at
wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all
things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. As for
prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for
knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10
but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child,
I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I
became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but
then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have
been fully known.
13 So now faith, hope, and love
abide, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.
but the greatest of these is love.
Written by
Kelly Dobyns
Kelly Dobyns
It is good to develop a habit of showing love to all regardless of how they are. I like how you said it does not have to be a gushing kind of love and can be shown by a kind word or taking the time to listen to someone who might need a willing ear. Thank you, Kelly.
ReplyDeleteGod bless