Today is the day before Easter. The day we sit and reflect on the fact that our Jesus conquered death. The very Jesus that came to this earth to die for OUR sins, defeated death this coming morning many many years ago. As I sit here in Indonesia today, I can’t help but to just sit in His aw and His glory. Our God is SO good, our God is SO big that He defeated death and that same power dwells inside of US.
God is good, all the time…
You’re love never fails, it never gives up, it never runs out on me.
Love – something I’ve been stressing about a lot lately. How to love: do I do it right? Do I do it wrong? Who loves me? Will I ever find the love of my life and if so, will I love them the right way?
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 breaks down what love is supposed to look like for believers. It describes it as: patient, kind, does not envy, does not boast, is not proud, does not dishonor others, not self-seeking, not easily angered, keeps no record of wrongs, takes no delight in evil and rejoices in truth, always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, never fails. Overwhelming, that is a LOT of things and I struggle hard at a lot of them and some of them I over emphasize (always protects). Okay, so God has me working on love. So what? Well, I’m finding myself really far away from the people I love the most so how am I supposed to work on loving them in a better and more right way?
I’m still with PEOPLE. People still need loved.
“But I didn’t choose these people”.
“Why use a perfect love on someone that’s not my family?”
Gosh, sometimes I’m so ashamed of the things my brain thinks of. Really Jessica? God calls you to love everyone, to love your neighbor as yourself. God calls you to treat your neighbor as you would treat yourself. Why did He place you with these people and NOT your family when He wanted to work on how you love? These aren’t the kind of people I would “choose” to love perfectly back home. If I wanted to challenge myself in loving someone well, honestly I would probably find myself in a relationship. But God has a better plan.
God knows whom I struggle at loving.
I can submit and love a man way easier than I can submit and love a girl (friend). Yes, in my past men haven’t been the most pleasant for or towards me, but scripturally I find it easier, more logical, and more biblical to submit and a love a man than it is for me to submit and love a girl (friend). Gosh, I can even submit and love a stranger for a week better than I can someone placed in my life for longer. These last two weeks in Malaysia have FILLED me with love. I have made friends with people I would have never dreamt of being friends with and I fell in love with their characters and can SEE how much my Lord loves them and how He has created ME to love them.
I struggle with loving those placed with me, the long timers. I’m not perfect and I still fail on the daily to love them (people close to me, the people I live with), but do not get me wrong- I love them. I have been lied to by the enemy, I have been fed by him and I have been close to his side for far too long just listening to what he has been throwing at me left and right.
I LOVE MY GODS PEOPLE. I LOVE MY PEOPLE.
I’m a Christian who knows I don’t always show love well to people that I do love. I don’t always know how to show it well and I’m not going to deny it.
I AM a child of my one true King. He did create me IN HIS IMAGE. I’m not a mess up and I’m neither stupid nor broken. I’m just a Kingdom seeker, some days I take the wrong path and other days my path may be right but the journey may just take me much longer.
This is it guys; God IS love. Thus take the word “love” from the scripture 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and replace it with Jesus. Now it’s more understandable. We will never BE Jesus, but we can strive to be LIKE Him. We will never BE perfect at loving, but we can always strive to do better 🙂 God IS love, you ARE loved, I have Christ inside of me and thus I have LOVE inside of me. Am I perfect at it? Well, I’m a lot closer than I was yesterday!
