Thought for Saturday, September 1st

September 1, 2012

The  ‘L’ Word

“Love you know, seeks to make happy rather than to be happy.”

-       Ralph Connor

    There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.

John 4:18

The concept of love from a Christian perspective, simply put, means loving like Jesus loved.  And His love was and is a perfect love that required Him to put the will and desires of His Father and the needs, of those His Father loved, before His own comfort and ease. 

This love caused Him to leave Heaven to come to Earth to live a life devoid of splendor our grandeur.  It required Him to face scorn and rejection, and ultimately called upon Him to suffer and die for sins He did not commit.

How many of us are willing to go to those lengths and those extremes for those we may have never met; or moreover, even for those we know and see every day?

Godly love calls on us to put ourselves out there in spite of the potential for being hurt or rejected: and it may even call on us on occasion to suffer an indignity or undeserved consequence in order to better the life of another.

Don’t you think this is what Jesus meant when He told us to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds and souls and to love our neighbor as our self?

Today’s Prayer 

Father, love is gentle, patient, kind, humble, meek, giving, forgiving, understanding, loyal, sacrificing, and caring: yet often I find I am not many if often any of these to the depth and degree I know you would want me to be: so help me to love deeper, care more and give more freely of this great love I have been so blessed to receive.

“I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
                                                         My life was in his hands./he_knows_my_name.html ]
I have a Father
He calls me His own
He'll never leave me
No matter where I go
He knows my name
He knows my every thought
He sees each tear that falls
And He hears me when I call “

-  Lyrics from ‘He Knows My Name’ by Tommy Walker