From my book, Pause for Pastors: Finding Still Waters in the Storm of Ministry.
Love, the decision to care, must guide our choices no matter how we feel.
Love, as Paul eloquently and accurately and practically describes in 1 Corinthians 13, is so much more than a feeling. Actions, choices, decisions; those come from love. Choosing to do what really is best instead of what feels best; that is love. Treating others the way we wish we could be treated and not how we are treated; that is love.
Even in romantic relationships, love involves so much of that. Doing what is best for the other. Making decisions to please another person, rather than personal gain or obtaining applause, rather than approval or value. Just loving. Just caring. Just giving. Just hearing. Just accepting.
Love, though, is a tough task to take on. It isn’t easy. Especially as we read Scripture and understand what type of love God really commands us to display.
Love for others can happen only as we learn what it is really like to receive God’s love and respond to that by loving in return. As we journey in pursuit of accomplishments and achievements, let us love God and be loved by God. As we seek to forgive others and serve others, let us love God and be loved by God.
Love like that doesn’t happen just in church services or a religious upbringing. It happens by spending time with our True Lover. It happens when we, by choice, read the Bible—God’s amazing love letter to everybody everywhere. It happens when we sit in silence with God, when we sing to Him and listen to Him, when we ask Him for miracles and when we thank Him for who He is and what He does.
So, how is your love life with God? What can be done to make it better? He is waiting. The God of love has love to give us.
Will we welcome that love?
Let us choose to.
