Well, I know what most of you are thinking, and no, I’m not talking about Tina Turner! HaHa! As I was thinking and praying for our Valentine’s Day Outreach, I couldn’t help but think about the power of love in our lives.
When we’re “in love," we feel as though we can move mountains and nothing is impossible. When we’re hurting and feeling alone and someone reaches out with loving kindness, we feel like we can make it. Love is a funny thing. It’s what every human being pursues with relentless passion. What’s the all too familiar saying? “LOVE makes the world go round!"
I can’t help but think of scripture when I think about these things. 1 John 4: 7-12 says, “7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”
I love these verses because it reminds me that in and of myself, it is impossible to love others the way that shows them Jesus is living in me. Vs. 12 says that no one has ever seen God. How is a world going to “see” God? They are going to “see” Him in us. When we love them without expecting anything in return, when we are kind while waiting in a long line at the grocery store, and when we keep silent when someone cops an attitude with us when we didn’t deserve it and our flesh wants to fight back yet we keep silent - that’s how they will “see” Him.
I have to be honest here when I say that apart from the power of Jesus in my life to restrain my tongue when someone is hateful or ugly, I couldn’t do it. Our flesh wants WAR! We want our way, in our time, for our purpose, and for our convenience! It’s only through our relationship with Jesus that we can remain humble and meek through the situations in life that challenge us, and that’s why loving the unlovely is soooo important. It shows them that there is a power in us that is not common in the ordinary person. That power is the power of God’s love!
As I think about the upcoming outreach, I couldn’t help but ask myself the tough question, “Am I loving others like Jesus?" Not just on Valentine’s Day but every day. We all are tested in different ways. As we go out, some of you may encounter only kind people who are grateful for your kindness to them. Others may encounter people who could care less that you bought a t-shirt, candy, flowers, etc. and are using your time in the streets of our community to share the love of Jesus! That’s when you have to ask yourself, “Am I loving like Jesus”? It’s sooo easy to love those who love you back! It’s when you encounter those who hurt you that your REAL motives and commitment to Jesus are tested.
So, what’s love got to do with it? EVERYTHING! It’s what the world is waiting to see as something REAL in our lives! When they see LOVE, they will “SEE” Jesus! God bless all of you, and know that I am praying for all of you who desire to show LOVE in your lives on Valentine’s Day and every other day!
