Hey friends!  Thank you for letting me have an off week.  It was my birthday and Valentine’s week so it was a busy week.  One of the many reasons I love the month of February is because it is centered around love.  We talk about love a lot in these motivations but today I want to focus on christian love.  So, let’s talk about it.

Most of you know me in real life (unlike the internet one! 🙂).  In real life, I have (more than) a few tattoos.  I have the word “love” tattooed twice on me.  Once on my left ring finger (for my love, Jon) and the second is a bible verse.  1 Corinthians 16:14, “Let all that you do be done in love.”  I got this verse for many reasons.  But the first and foremost reason was to be able to witness to nonbelievers.   This verse speaks to me.  If everyone did everything in love, this world would be a great place.  I think even nonbelievers would agree, right?

Now, I love my husband.  I do.  But the easiest love is my son.  Sure, he gets on my nerves but in my mom mind, the love you have for your child is the closest you will ever experience to pure love.  It’s the closest love we can experience as  how our Father loves us.  Every person on Earth is a child of God whether they are a believer or not.  Our God created everything you see.  Look around…everything.  And He did this for YOU.  He did it for me.  He did it for all of us. YES!  Even those who hate Him.  AND, He gave us HIS only son.  Can you imagine allowing your child to use his life to pay for our salvation when we could care less about it?  I can’t either.  This love is agape love.  

Agape love is the desire to do good for others, even enemies, and is not based on feelings. If you are anything like me, it is hard to separate feelings from doing good.  I can’t tell you how many times I have to walk away to just think.  In my younger days, I erroneously just reacted.  I am definitely not perfect but I can tell you I have mellowed as I have gotten older.  This more mellow Jennifer usually allows the opportunity to consult with God and ask questions.  There are times I listen and there are times I don’t because I allow emotions to get in the way.  I say this all the time, it’s because I’m human.  Let me be clear when I say, that is no excuse for bad behavior.  It’s just important to know that’s how God made us.  Why did He make it hard on us?  I don’t know exactly (I’ll ask when I get to heaven) but I feel certain it was a way to constantly seek Him.

Then, there is unconditional love.  I think unconditional love and agape love are very similar but different.  Unconditional love is what I believe is the closest most of us come to agape love.  Let me sum up unconditional love.  Jesus.  Jesus helped.  Jesus loved.  BUT, Jesus also held people accountable.  Unconditional love doesn’t mean allowing people to live a sinful life without you calling them out.  It is your duty as a christian to tell them what they’re doing is wrong.  This isn’t being judgemental.  This is love.  Remember, be careful of your delivery.  When Jesus called people out, He did this with love and not hate.

And then, there is forgiving those who need to be forgiven.  As a friend, I am going to tell you some bad news.  People will hurt your feelings.  They may do it intentionally or unintentionally.  But when you are on the receiving end of that hurt, intentional or not, it hurts all the same.  It will be up to you on how you deal with that hurt.  As a byproduct of that hurt, it will shape you.  Will you become bitter and angry?  Or will you let go?  What I can tell you is God is there to help you through it.  And once you DO forgive, that is love.  To just put it in perspective, can you truly love someone who hurt you bad enough to not forgive them?  I know I couldn’t.  

Love is hard and complicated because we have feelings.  Love is an emotion that is hard to control.  Love is the backbone of who we are or who we want to be.  I used to say God tests us but I think God stretches us like a muscle.  When a muscle is used and stretched for the first time in a long time, it hurts.  It might hurt to use that muscle after it’s been worked but you still do it because you have to go about your day.  Hopefully, you have used that muscle enough to where you don’t injure yourself too bad and need surgery.  But with a little ice or a little heat, you are usually just fine.  God wants to be our day to day life.  He is our ice and heat.  And if it’s too bad, He’s the only surgeon I want.

Love you all (and I promise I do!!),

Jennifer