Fabulous Love for February

Hello friends! I hope that you have gotten off to a good week today and that you are feeling God's presence in your life to help you through any roadblocks!

I so appreciate that you are following my blog and I pray that it helps to lighten your day and encourage your spirit. If you read what I posted on my weekend blog you will remember that I mostly just posted 1st Corinthians 13, often referred to as the "love chapter." I thought this would be a great focus scripture for the whole month of February and I am hoping that it will keep us thinking on the greatest love in the world - the love of God!

Paul was addressing the church, a body of believers, when he wrote this chapter. In the previous chapter he spoke about the many differences and how each member is a significant part of the church. I love his last statement in chapter 12. He simply says: "Now I will show you the most excellent way." Then he starts chapter 13.

We see that in verses 1 - 3 that we can be doing all the right things outwardly, but if our actions are not coming from a heart filled with His love then we are just making noise (clanging cymbals!)

Whoa!!!!!! Hold on a minute! We might say, "I go to church every Sunday and Wednesday and I read my Bible and know it from front to back (people might even come to you for biblical answers!) And what about my faith? Everybody says I am a person of great faith because I stay strong in the midst of troubles and try to have a positive, godly outlook. Not to mention the amount of money I give to charities!"

But Paul says that we can be doing all of those things and more but if we are not motivated by love than it is nothing! Nothing! He's talking about the kind of love that overflows from the heart into the lives of all we come in contact with. It is a Christ-like love that even loves people who we don't think are very lovable, even our enemies, for Heaven's sake! That is heavy! It is a love that says I am no better than anyone else God has made. It's a love that does something besides sit in a pew at church, or read the Bible everyday. It is a love that says Yes, I can help with that program at church, or yes, I can help cook and serve meals for the needy, or help at the Christian Life Center or ring the bell for the Salvation Army. Yep, I guess you can say it is a servant love. He is trying to tell us that we should use the gifts God has given us to show His love to others.

I don't know about you but this makes me feel like sometimes I am a clanging cymbal too. Would you join me this "love" month and try to put our love into action? Let's read this passage everyday this month and love like we have never loved before! We can start my practicing loving the "unloveables" in our life. Let's do a good deed for someone we have a hard time loving.

There used to be a song I loved that said "Teach me how to love the way that you (Jesus) love; to pour out my life for another........... or something like that. I can't find it anywhere and I don't remember any more of the lyrics but those words I do remember, along with the tune, have stuck with me since I heard it. That is my prayer: Dear God, please teach me how to love the way that you love." Amen.