John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.â€
I Recently heard someone say love is a choice, and that troubled me. I agree we have the choice to love someone or not, but to me it goes along with following God or not. I think the most troubling part of hearing this person say this is they are a christian. Yes we can chose to love someone or not to love them, but if we are to walk with God and serve Him then to me there is no choice at all. We must love everyone. Yes it is easy to love your children and family, but what about those who are hurting you? It is a commandment given by Jesus that we love one another. Some may argue that He meant to love other fellow followers of Christ, and that may be what that scripture says, however there are a few other scriptures that are a little more in depth of who we love.
Mark 12:30-31 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.â€
Okay this is a little more in depth saying love your neighbor just as you would love your self. It doesn't say only love them if they follow Christ or follow God. And notice the last line "there is no other commandment greater than these". To me that seems Jesus is really pushing something on us. Love everyone or be a sinner. Now even with these verses it is not clear what to do if these people are hurting you, do we still have to show them love? YES WE DO!
Matthew 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.â€
We need to be godly people and lead by example by following God and striving to be like Jesus. Even God loves those who hurt us and the sun rises and sets for them to. Now a little story from my life of an issue I had and God quickly reminded me of Him and put me back in my place.
My two girls where being dedicated to God in church and I invited my wife (Who if you remember says she does not believe in God). Being the good mother she is she wanted to be there for our girls. I rejoiced and praised God. Then she sent a text that felt like a knife in my gut and the text read "Would you be opposed to having Jacob come to?". Just in case you haven't read my other post, Jacob is the man my wife quickly turned to after she said she wanted a divorce, and he use to be a great friend of mine, but because of my own actions him and I fell apart and now he is with my wife. But anyway that's not the important part of the story. When she sent this to me an anger came up in me and I wanted to say no he can not come. God quickly said to me "Who are you to say who can and cant come to my house? My Son died for his sins as well not just yours".
That was a huge reality check. I had no choice but to say of course he can come. I had to sacrifice my emotions and feelings of seeing them together and I had to show love and trust God. I tell you what God put a guard on my heart and the day was beautiful and about God and my children. Now there is a point to this story yes it is about love.
It is obvious I love my God and my wife unconditionally but how do you love someone who you are angry with? Is anger right? Can you be angry and still love? Lets turn to Gods word shall we?
1st Corinthians 12:4-8 “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.â€
Love is not arrogant or rude, does not envy, is not irritable. All of those are traits of anger. I know what your saying "Well I can show my enemy love and just hide my anger towards them". Well no we cant we can not hide anger inside of us. Anger pulls us away from God.
James 1: 19-20 "This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."
Matthew 5:22 "But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, `You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire."
I know every one of you have a different situation, some of your spouses are not with another person, and you need to thank God for that and pray that it does not happen. However we need to be forgiving and show love in every situation to every person. You can not win the heart of your spouse on your own by bad actions and acting out in anger. Only God can turn your spouses heart back towards you and if your spouse is not seeking God then we have to be the light by our own actions. Show love however be honest. I was honest to my wife saying everything in me wanted to say no to him coming but this day is not about me and how I feel it is about our girls being dedicated to God. Most importantly than anything else be forgiving instantly. Forgive daily if you have to, don't say you forgive them because in their minds allot of times they don't think they are in the wrong, but instead of saying I forgive you, show them forgiveness by not holding it against them and showing love daily. Be the light unto God and His way, let Jesus live in you and threw you, surrender your emotions and cares to God. After all He can handle them allot better than we can.
I really hope this helps someone hurting. Remember to stay strong and be patient with God. Your marriage will be healed and you may not be waiting on Him to heal your marriage, He may be waiting on you to change something about yourself before He heals your marriage.
Thank You and God Bless
I Recently heard someone say love is a choice, and that troubled me. I agree we have the choice to love someone or not, but to me it goes along with following God or not. I think the most troubling part of hearing this person say this is they are a christian. Yes we can chose to love someone or not to love them, but if we are to walk with God and serve Him then to me there is no choice at all. We must love everyone. Yes it is easy to love your children and family, but what about those who are hurting you? It is a commandment given by Jesus that we love one another. Some may argue that He meant to love other fellow followers of Christ, and that may be what that scripture says, however there are a few other scriptures that are a little more in depth of who we love.
Mark 12:30-31 “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.â€
Okay this is a little more in depth saying love your neighbor just as you would love your self. It doesn't say only love them if they follow Christ or follow God. And notice the last line "there is no other commandment greater than these". To me that seems Jesus is really pushing something on us. Love everyone or be a sinner. Now even with these verses it is not clear what to do if these people are hurting you, do we still have to show them love? YES WE DO!
Matthew 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.â€
We need to be godly people and lead by example by following God and striving to be like Jesus. Even God loves those who hurt us and the sun rises and sets for them to. Now a little story from my life of an issue I had and God quickly reminded me of Him and put me back in my place.
My two girls where being dedicated to God in church and I invited my wife (Who if you remember says she does not believe in God). Being the good mother she is she wanted to be there for our girls. I rejoiced and praised God. Then she sent a text that felt like a knife in my gut and the text read "Would you be opposed to having Jacob come to?". Just in case you haven't read my other post, Jacob is the man my wife quickly turned to after she said she wanted a divorce, and he use to be a great friend of mine, but because of my own actions him and I fell apart and now he is with my wife. But anyway that's not the important part of the story. When she sent this to me an anger came up in me and I wanted to say no he can not come. God quickly said to me "Who are you to say who can and cant come to my house? My Son died for his sins as well not just yours".
That was a huge reality check. I had no choice but to say of course he can come. I had to sacrifice my emotions and feelings of seeing them together and I had to show love and trust God. I tell you what God put a guard on my heart and the day was beautiful and about God and my children. Now there is a point to this story yes it is about love.
It is obvious I love my God and my wife unconditionally but how do you love someone who you are angry with? Is anger right? Can you be angry and still love? Lets turn to Gods word shall we?
1st Corinthians 12:4-8 “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.â€
Love is not arrogant or rude, does not envy, is not irritable. All of those are traits of anger. I know what your saying "Well I can show my enemy love and just hide my anger towards them". Well no we cant we can not hide anger inside of us. Anger pulls us away from God.
James 1: 19-20 "This you know, my beloved brethren. But let everyone be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."
Matthew 5:22 "But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, `You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire."
I know every one of you have a different situation, some of your spouses are not with another person, and you need to thank God for that and pray that it does not happen. However we need to be forgiving and show love in every situation to every person. You can not win the heart of your spouse on your own by bad actions and acting out in anger. Only God can turn your spouses heart back towards you and if your spouse is not seeking God then we have to be the light by our own actions. Show love however be honest. I was honest to my wife saying everything in me wanted to say no to him coming but this day is not about me and how I feel it is about our girls being dedicated to God. Most importantly than anything else be forgiving instantly. Forgive daily if you have to, don't say you forgive them because in their minds allot of times they don't think they are in the wrong, but instead of saying I forgive you, show them forgiveness by not holding it against them and showing love daily. Be the light unto God and His way, let Jesus live in you and threw you, surrender your emotions and cares to God. After all He can handle them allot better than we can.
I really hope this helps someone hurting. Remember to stay strong and be patient with God. Your marriage will be healed and you may not be waiting on Him to heal your marriage, He may be waiting on you to change something about yourself before He heals your marriage.
Thank You and God Bless
