Thought for Friday, September 28th

September 28, 2012

Is Love A Simple Thing

“Love is but the discovery of ourselves in others, and the delight in the recognition.”

-       Alexander Smith

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;  Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.  Charity never faileth:…

1 Corinthians   13:4-8

Almost everyone who had exposure to church teachings as a child was taught that Jesus loves them.  And as adults who are Christians, we have no doubt that Jesus loves us so very much that He was willing to die in our place.  We understand that God loved us enough to send Jesus to be the lamb sacrifice on our behalf to cover our sins with His own blood, and that this love is perpetuated in His making the gift of salvation available to who ever will believe and receive it.

We even grasp the idea that in order to show our love towards God we must attempt to keep his commandments.

And we also understand that He wants us to love each other.

But often somewhere between our understanding and our implementation of what we know something gets lost in the process.

Robert Heinlein said, “Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”  I sometimes wonder as I look around the church world, at large, how much we truly want others happiness as much as we want our own.

I see and hear the way we talk to each other and about each other and wonder where did that Christ-like love that we are suppose to have hide itself.

I witness the expectations and demands that are placed on leaders within the church and the harshness with which they are treated and dealt with if they sometimes do not measure up to a particular expectation.  And I wonder how does this demonstrate the love we are instructed to have?

If love is patient, kind, forgiving and all those attributes listed in today’s verses, how good are we doing at loving God by keeping the directives He has given us to follow in loving one another?

Often I think we fall short: but sadly I often think we fail to recognize our short-comings and we make no effort to make adjustments so that we can improve in our short falls.

We do not doubt that Jesus and God love us.  We emphatically state that we love Him, but do we love Him enough to love each other as He has instructed us too?

Today’s Prayer

Father, I have failed.  I know I do not love the way I need to, but I want to do better.  Change my heart and help me to see beyond my prejudices and interests to see the heart that needs to be loved the way I need to be loved by you.

“I have a Maker
He formed my heart
Before even time began
    My life was in his hands.
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