Do you remember how it felt the first time you fell in love, the first time you wanted to spend every free moment with that special someone, how your thoughts revolved around nothing but that person, just the sound of their voice made butterflies in your belly. Or how about when you had your first child, that desire to protect and nurture your baby, the constant need to know that they were okay even while they were sleeping, the joy of watching them grow, the pride of seeing them learn and mature. What about the love we have for our parents, closest friends and even our pets?
If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.
2 If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
(1 Corinthians 13:1-7 MSG)
I'm asking about love, because I want to ask a thought provoking question ~ do you love God as much as you love EVERYone and EVERYthing else in your life?
It's easy to say without a doubt that yes we love God, but where does he come in our life? We tend to put the important things in our life at the front of our list - so does God actually show in the real world the same place as He does on your list? If we put God first on the list, do we start our day with Him? Do we say we love God as much as favorite TV shows, yet we schedule time for our shows but not for God? Is our time with God sound like a laundry list of wants and needs in a short prayer time?
Prayer isn't just a time of petition, it's a time to spend with God, talking to Him - just like you ask your child how their day was at school. God wants us to take time out of busy days to spend with Him: talk to Him, tell Him what's on our mind (yes He already knows, but that doesn't mean He doesn't delight in hearing from us), tell Him how much we love Him, tell Him 'Thank You' for all He's done for us.
Reading God's Word is such an awesome way of getting to know God, talk about falling in love with God all over again! When we read His Word, it is a love letter to each and everyone of us, it's a reminder of how much God loves us. Time in the scriptures is time never wasted, we fill our spiritual tank up - we replenish what has been taken (drained) from us by this world.
Serving others shows God's love - we're called to be the hands and feet of Jesus. It’s impossible to do this living in our own little world, only attending church for an hour or two each week. Jesus told us that we would be known by our fruits and He even went further to demonstrate that those who would cast out demons and performed miracles with His name could still NOT know Jesus!
“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ 23 But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
(Matthew 7:20-23 NLT)
Love is an action, we need to show the world Jesus and what better way to share Jesus but by loving the world the way God loves us.
