Joyce Meyer says "you can't give something you don't have" If this is true, how many of us are lying through our teeth by the saying three simple words "I love you"?
As easy as it is to say those words, the truth of the matter is, it is not as easy to live them.
Jesus said "“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
WOW. Ok so it's not just love that we are suppose to live, but we are suppose to express it toward people who have wronged us? Can't I just live my life staying away from those people? You know, out of sight, out of mind?
Here is where we get uncomfortable. Many of us, if not all, have had a form of great heartache in our lives. Many times that heartache is from man. Maybe you didn't grow up with good parents, maybe you were abused, maybe (like me) you got burned in love, or maybe (also like me) you were hurt by the church; whatever it was do you love that person who wronged you? Do you pray for that man who broke your heart so fierce you thought you would die?
Every time we go through a heartache, we lose a bit of love; we have two options, we can let it eat at us and every time we think about it we lose a bit more of our heart, or we can forgive them, pray for them and allow God to recreate the love lost.
If you don't have love, you can't give it.
That last sentence "be perfect as your Father is perfect" is so profound. We have never been given a commandment to follow that our Father did not first follow:
"The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love."
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
"I led them with cords of human kindness, with ties of love; I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down to feed them."
"He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."
So you read these verses, this truth, and decide it's ok you're good enough, you have enough faith, you're gentle enough; but is it enough? Galatians says that "the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." That chapter is ended by saying "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." It says fruit, not fruits! This has always been a conviction for me! For the Spirit to be evident in your life, you must have all of these things, it is not enough to have only a piece; you must be a life of love AND joy AND peace AND forbearance AND kindness AND goodness AND faithfulness AND gentleness AND self-control. Then, and only then can your life be full of the Spirit.
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."
"Whoever does not love, does not know God, because GOD IS LOVE."
"Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins."
God has worked so greatly in my life when it comes to love! For such a long time I was bitter, I hated love (or what I bought was love), but God has redeemed my heart and shown how to truly forgive and love instead of hate. I'm not perfect, I am human as you are human, but as I have gotten rid of past hurts and forgiven with love, I find it easier to forgive more quickly. When you forgive the past, the future hurts (yes, they will still come) don't sting as bad and are much easier to forgive.
My challenge to you is to forgive those who've wronged you. Forgive yourself. Forgive circumstances. Don't hold on to things. And allow yourself to be full of God's redeeming love; only then can you give because you have.
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
