Love

Pic taken from http://keturahweathers.theworldrace.org/blogphotos/theworldrace/keturahweathers/love1.jpg

I had an epiphany last night, courtesy of the Holy Spirit (i.e. the source of all true and good inspiration). I was going to list the commands I should follow as a Christian and what I should do to show my life is in Christ when the Holy Spirit said, "Write them down. Notice how they all are inspired by love?"

Love is the motivation for all the good we do. Or it should be. When we love the Lord, we love others. We have to. We're no better than anyone else so not loving someone because they are rude or annoying or generally ridiculous means that we consider ourselves above them.

And we're not. We're just as low as they, just as much deserving (or lack thereof) of Christ's love and sacrifice. The only difference is maybe they don't know that the Lord loved them so much He sacrificed His Son to die when we deserved it for all the sins that cover us. They don't know that they don't have to live enslaved to sin; Jesus's blood covers us, washes us white as snow (a bit of a poetic oxymoron). We may be blameless, but so are they.

And if we love others, we show them. We can show them in different ways, maybe through words of encouragement or otherwise gentle demonstrations. But sometimes we have to be tough. That's why when we love each other and love God, we are accountable for all we do. We have to hold others accountable and they have to do the same for us. If we're slipping, we need someone to love us enough to tell us so. Yeah, we'll probably get offended. But in my opinion, if we're offended and defensive, it's because the person telling us we're wrong is right.

Let me reiterate. If we have to give a defense for anything we do, we're not living right. Every action we take should have an obvious motivation and effect that is apparent to everyone around us. Then we have no reason to be defensive or to justify our actions.

I don't know if that made sense. I've thought that for awhile, but it's been hard to put into words. To simplify, if you love everything you do and everyone you're around, your actions will follow what God Almighty asks. When you love you're not jealous, you don't put down, you forgive. When you love, people might say you let others win or use you as a doormat. But they're missing the big picture. You touch lives and confuse others; that confusion leads to search why you're so different. Maybe they ask outright why you're different from everyone else; maybe they intend to trip you up to see if you're just like everyone else.

But when love is your motivation behind everything you do, you can't fail. When you love God, you love others. It's a constant give and get cycle. He loves you, so you pour out your love to others. You love Him, He fills you up to love more and more and more.

I suppose I should amend - when you love the Lord, you can't fail. When you understand that He loves you so much, He died to bring you closer to Him, you can't help but love others. That love motivates every action, and so you follow every command the Lord has in His Word.

I don't know if you're getting this or if I'm jumbling everything up. So, short, sweet, and to the point- Love God, Love Others.

One more thing. Love is not just a feeling; it's an action. Feelings fade and change and tend to be unreliable. If you commit to love, stick to love. There will hard times, but good times too. Keep going. Keep loving. Don't say, "I don't feel loved or like loving anyone today." Do it anyways. Just because you're not up to it is no excuse. Your mother probably didn't love you when she had to change your diapers at 3AM but she kept going, right?

So go. Love God and Love Others.

Now if only I could artistically proclaim this. Usually when the Holy Spirit inspires me, it's during a worship song or something I read and an image comes to mind. Then the symbolism and meaning is fused into the image. Now I have the symbolism and meaning, but no image. Hmm...

Live and Love and God Bless you wherever you go!
EPD