IS YOUR LOVE VERTICAL AS WELL AS HORIZONTAL?
BIBLE PASSAGE:
“Because he loves Me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue
him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges My name.”
(Psalm 91:14)
MEDITATION:
Would you agree that one of the basic needs of mankind is affection?
We desire love from others, and whether we realize it or not, we also
have a desire for love from God. We know that we have God’s love
because Jesus went to the cross for us, but we can’t always be sure
that we have the love of others, can we?
Hopefully their love is genuine, but there are times when a person thinks
they were loved by someone, but find out later that it was either pretend
love, or it was non-existent. Of course, God’s love for us remains constant
despite our actions. God loves us because He IS LOVE. He may disapprove
of the things we do or say, but He loves us as His creations.
Can we do that? Can we look past the things we feel others have
done to hurt us, and love them anyway? Can we love them even
when we don’t receive their love in return? What did Jesus do?
He loved everyone including those who did not return His love
and those who wanted to hurt Him and bring about His death.
Loving some people can be a challenge, can’t it? There are some
who unintentionally hurt us, and there are some who purposely
hurt us, but God has commanded us to love all of them. Can we
do that? It may not be easy, but when we belong to the Lord and
He is living in us, we have the capacity to do whatever He tells us
we should do if we are committed followers of Jesus.
Some say,
“To get love, you have to give love”
Whether that’s true or not, as believers, God expects us to express
love to others. But our love is a special type of love. We are to love
others with the same degree of love we have for ourselves.
If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture,
“Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.
(James 2:8)
Think about the ways you love yourself. That is how we are
supposed to love others. In fact, God might expect us to love
others even when we have a struggle loving ourselves. Jesus
tells us that this kind of love will make it obvious to others
that we belong to Him; that He is an integral part of our life.
It is one way we can serve Him and be a witness of His love
for mankind.
By this everyone will know that you
are my disciples, if you love one another.
(John 13:35)
We should follow His command to love others, but we should
not forget to love the Lord as well. How do we know if we are
effectively loving Him? God’s Word says we will know we love
Him when we obey Him (which includes obeying His command
to love others).
If you love me, keep my commands.
(John 14:15)
If you keep my commands, you will remain
in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s
commands and remain in his love.
(John 15:10)
In Psalms, we see that when we love the Lord, we are given some
promises that bless us. When we know the Lord (rather than just
knowing about Him), we love Him, and we are glad to acknowledge
Him before others.
Our love for God assures us of our security in Him. He will rescue
us from problems and temptations, and protect us from Satan’s evil
schemes to disrupt our lives, discourage us, and cause us to develop
hatred for some people. Love gives us the opportunity to receive grace,
mercy, forgiveness and love from our heavenly Father.
When we think about God’s gracious and undeniable forgiveness of
us, we need to recall the words of Jesus when He gave us the pattern
of how we should pray.
And forgive us our debts, as we
also have forgiven our debtors.
(Matthew 6:12)
God doesn’t give us stipulations of who we should love and
forgive, He simply tells us to love and forgive everyone. We
are told to ask God to forgive us with the same degree of
forgiveness we have for others. So, the more forgiving we
are of others, the more we can expect God to forgive us.
However, when it comes to love, God can’t love us anymore
or any less than He already does. God IS love and as followers
of Jesus, love should be an identifying characteristic of us as
well. It is our confirmation that we belong to the Lord.
ACTION:
Do you love others as Jesus commanded? Do you love them with the
same type of love (or even a greater love) you have for yourself? More
importantly, do you love the Lord, and if so, can others detect your
love for Him? Would others describe you as a loving person, or as a
person with an explosive anger that can flare up at any time.
When you are talking to someone, do you have good or bad things to
say about someone else? If you love the Lord, how often do you tell Him
of your love for Him? We can say to ourselves, “He knows I love Him”,
and that’s true, but don’t you think He wants us to tell Him we love Him?
It reinforces to us that we love Him when we hear ourselves say we do.
Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for Your love. No matter
where I am or what situation I am in, You are there loving
me, protecting me, forgiving me, and rescuing me. Forgive
me for being negligent and failing to tell You that I love You.
You are the essence of love, and You have given me the capacity
to love. Help me to allow Your love to flow through me. Thank
You Jesus, for going to the cross as an ultimate expression of
Your love for me. I love You, I am grateful that You love me,
and I am thankful for Your promises to those who love You.”
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