Aug 30, 2018
Follow God's example
& walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for
us. Eph 5:1-2
Love sacrifices
itself for another--- so love God and love others like Jesus loved you.
Take note for one week on all the things you say you “love”. Here’s a portion of my list from
yesterday. I said I loved: my wife, my granddaughter, my daughter, the
arrival of a friend, the color of a car, the heat, the air conditioning, the
taste of a DQ Ice Cream Blizzard, a song on the radio, a funny joke, and much
more. We say we “love” everything – but the
fact is we love what everything does for us.
Sometimes we measure love by how it is received, but God
measures love by how it is given. That’s
why the love of Jesus is so powerful!
Jesus CHOSE to sacrifice Himself and give us His love in spite of our lack of love
toward Him. Jesus didn’t wait to see if
we loved Him, He chose to love us first.
The human tendency is to love with limits. We don’t mind sacrificing ourselves when
there is a compensatory return. We are
okay with sacrifice that is not too painful.
Or sometimes, we’ll sacrifice our lives for a great cause or very
important person. But few people are
willing to fully sacrifice themselves for an ungrateful or selfish person. And almost nobody would lay down their life
for an evil person.
Yet that is what Jesus did for Judas. That’s what He did for all the disciples, the
Jews, the Greeks, the Romans, and the people of the earth. And that’s what He did for you and me. His love was boundless, because real love
doesn’t set a limit on the sacrifice.
Real love does what is right and best for the person it loves.
Walking in the way of love is choosing to express love to
others without reservation. It means
loving your spouse, your kids, your neighbors, your enemies, your world – all because
Jesus loves them, not because they loved you back. It is a life of sacrifice, but one that is
greatly admired and highly watched. The
only way to live it out is to fully taste the love Jesus has for us. Without a full supply of his love, we cannot
keep walking in love.
So today, choose to love others by recognizing and filling
up on God’s love. Then you’ll have an
endless supply to give away.
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