We drove down this dirt path
approaching our church destination and I wasn’t sure what to expect. As the truck came to a stop, 70 kids
surrounded us. Before my foot even
touched the ground, little hands grabbed mine, arms wrapped around my stomach,
and small people hung around my legs. At
first I was surprised and caught off guard, and then a big grin formed on my
face as I looked inside these little faces of joy! They didn’t care who I was, they wanted to
love me! With great trust that I would
love them back, they continued to swarm me and bombard me with questions about
who I was.
Never in my life, do I
remember being surrounded by children like that, but I loved
it! There were no barriers, no awkward
shyness, no hesitations…just straight forward love! How could anyone love that way, risk that
way, and give that way? Child-like
faith? The longing to be loved themselves?
All I know is that God
taught me something that day; I need to
love like these kids love. Love without
thinking about it. Love by taking
risks. No hesitations to love. Just do it! Pour out love unconditionally. We all long to be loved, but we need to love
first. God pours His fulfilling love into us so we can pour that love out to others.
Our group started a Bible
study last week on fellowship and the focus this time was obedience in
love. As we read
Romans 13:8 “Owe nothing to another except to love one
another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law,”
It was said that we owe
everyone love all the time. Wow! We owe that to each other even when we don’t
feel like it and when we get to that point and choose not to love, we are in
complete opposition to God. It also says
we fulfill the law when we love; we complete the law.
So, when we don’t love, we
fulfill the desires of the flesh. What do you do when you don’t feel like loving?
What do you do when you feel like you’re being attacked and fulfilling the desires of the flesh is tempting? We rebuke satan in Jesus’ name and turn to God’s word;
TRUTH! God’s word is full of truth and
when you allow God to speak truth into your life, to fill you up, you can
combat the human nature with God’s nature.
We each received a verse on love to dwell on, memorize, and write down
for the week. As I read my verse to the
group,
Hebrews 10:24 “Let us consider how we may spur one
another on toward love and good deeds,”
it was mentioned that the
word consider does not mean to think about it as an option but actually to ‘fix
your eyes on’ how we may spur one another on toward love. Fix your eyes on, focus, consider how you can
encourage others to love and how you can love others. How can I push my brother or sister to love?
These kids don’t know it,
but God used them to encourage me to love.
My heart went out to each child I talked to, each child that hugged me,
each child that looked into my eyes. I
wanted to hold them, love them, and never let them go! I wanted to let them know how special they
are and the purpose God created them with, the life He has planned for them. But God knows and I pray this church we
visited will pour that truth into their lives.
Don’t forget to look for
opportunities to love…especially when you don’t feel like it! SWARM others with your life 🙂
“A command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” ~John 13:34
