LOVE!!!!!!!

I read today about the Love we have been shown by Jesus' and how we should respond to that by the way we love others. John 15:11-12 says, " These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." I can love the people who are easy to love. I can love the people who deserve love. I can love people who I feel sorry for. It is very difficult to love the unlovable. It is also difficult to love those who have not shown love to me. As I read today, I understood that Jesus loved the unlovable and the people who hated Him. He was mocked, ridiculed, and laughed at by the very people that He came to die for. Now that's LOVE!!! Dying for the mockers. As, I continued to read, I came to a realization: Christians have a really hard time loving other Christians. Jealousy, pride, selfishness, and envy. Those are the reasons we don't love each other. Oh we say we do. We will even do ministry together in the name of love, but when it comes down to it, we do not SHOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST TO ONE ANOTHER!!! I have been the Christian who has not showed the love of Christ and numerous times been the Christian who is not shown the love of Christ by my Christian "friends". Why do we do it? Jesus preached about unity in the body of Christ. I think sometimes we let the human part of us that is imperfect and sinful take over and the Spirit is hushed and pushed aside. I find it so hard to push that sinful part aside on a daily basis. I am so imperfect and evil apart from Christ and the Holy Spirit living in me. I cannot love the way Christ loves if I am not constantly walking in the Spirit.

Josh and I are embarking on a crazy journey. We will and are already feeling the spiritual attacks that come along with following the Lord's call on our lives. We know there are so many more to come. More than anything, we need our brothers and sisters in Christ to come alongside us in this season of life. As I studied LOVE this morning, I thought of all the wonderful people that have loved us through some tough times and are still loving us through this crazy time. We need it, that's for sure. God has blessed us and continues to change things up and show us that He is in control. So, I leave you with this verse and pray you will walk in love this week.

    Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
                                                                                                                  1 John 4:7-8