“Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then “loving one another” should be our way of life! No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendor. But if we love one another, God makes his permanent home in us, and we make our permanent home in him, and his love is brought to its full expression in us.”
1 John 4:11-12 TPT
Love. Something we all know how to do in some capacity or another. There are different kinds of love; that for friends, or family, or s.o.’s. But, sometimes we pick and choose who we love. We live a “salad bar” life; loving the croutons but maybe not the olives. Or, it’s easy loving the tomato but not always the mushroom.
What an idea. “Easy to love.” Ever heard someone say “you’re easy to love”? Or maybe, “you’re hard to love.” Ouch. Words like that sink deep seeds into the soil of your heart. If not taken care of, those roots can choke out love, and sprout bitterness.
THANK YOU, JESUS, that you don’t love like that.
I think sometimes we forget who Jesus loves. We forget that literally every person we’ve ever seen, talked to, disliked, been jealous of…Jesus loves them. That person who yelled at you from road rage, the kind old lady you see in Walmart, the child throwing a tantrum at church; Jesus looks at them and says “yeah. that’s my son/daughter. Wow I love them.” I think we sometimes choose who to love because some people are “easier” to love than others. Maybe the friend who’s always there for you is easier to love than the coworker who’s always behind on their work. Makes sense, right?
Let’s pause.
Imagine something for me: you live every day with a certain pair of glasses on. There are different lenses you can put in the glasses, and everyday you choose a lense. Lense 1: see people in need, but think “someone else will help them. that’s not my job, they’re not my responsibility. I’m just gonna mind my business and hope they figure it out.”
Lense 2: “this person is not easy for me to love. They’ve hurt me, or yelled at me for no reason. *fill in the blank* But hey. I don’t know what they’re going through. I’m going to choose to love them. Because someone chose to love me, and His name is Jesus.”
Our world says that lense 1 is okay. It’s okay to live for yourself. It’s okay to just step aside and have the “good Samaritan” step in. If Jesus is the King over your life and heart, sorry, you don’t live for the world anymore. You are a part of a kingdom, one that does things differently. In this kingdom, lense 2 is how you live. Lense 2 is what you must *you have the opportunity to* c h o o s e. It is definitely not an easy choice. But you have been given love by a perfect lover, and “Freely you have received; freely give.” (Matthew 5:8) In this kingdom, what “makes sense” to the world does not make sense there. As soon as you accepted Jesus, you were made 110%, totally, fully, completely new. You’re not labeled “just a sinner” or “just a Christian.” You were given a new life. A life that, to the world, makes ZERO sense.
One of my new favorite words is overflow. The definition of overflow is: “the excess or surplus not able to be accommodated by an available space.” On the race, the Lord has been teaching me how to love out of a place of overflow. You can only give what you have, and you can’t give something you haven’t received. You first must know the absolute love the Father has for you before you can genuinely give it to others. Abba has poured so much love into the cup of my heart, there’s no more capacity, and all I can do is give it away. It’s a way of life. It is a choice you make everyday to put on your kingdom lenses, and choose to see people with the Lords love, not the worlds view. It’s not easy, but wow will Jesus show up there.
So, choose to love bigger. Why? Because God loved you first. He gave you a gift, and he wants you to share it. Choose to love deeper. Don’t stay surface, go in. The Maker is in the details. “His love is brought to its full expression in us.” The trees were made for oxygen, flowers carry beauty, we were made to be loved.
If you want more of an expansion on this, here’s an awesome video resource on it: https://youtu.be/slyevQ1LW7A
Worship song: Overflow by Tenth Avenue North
Verse: “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you.” John 15:12
Also I only have $2,600 left until I’m fully funded!! I only have 11 days until my deadline. Please please please consider helping me reach this last goal. Your support allows me to continue to minister to, and with, the beautiful people of Guatemala. Any donation, no matter the size, (and all prayers!!) make a big difference. Please consider supporting to be a difference maker for me.
