Good morning,
It seems that the Lord has given me a very difficult assignment for this part of this new year. I have had the privilege of having two loving parents, two sisters and two wives and four boys who have loved me through the years despite the challenge of living with me first hand. I trusted Jesus as my Savior when I was eight years old and my Savior has had the challenge of living with me and and loving me through all the stages of my life even though I often chose my own way over his loving direction. The Bible is full of stories and directions of the importance of God’s love for his creation, and yet I feel like a young kid trying to understand what my teacher is telling me about a new math problem. I know the word love, but I am still struggling with what God is trying to teach me about what the word means and what this love looks like when applied to my day in and day out struggle with the people and circumstances in my life. I have a good Bible, good books about the Bible and a number of dictionaries and commentaries, but I sense that the Lord has much more in store for me on this journey.
There is no doubt that the Apostle John knew what he was talking about when he said, This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. The God of the Bible is the only genuine source for the love that all of us long for. It seems from this statement that real love is something that will be costly to the giver and will require the genuine forgiveness for all the offenses involved in a loving relationship with the ungrateful objects of our love. Then John points out that since God is this way towards us, that’s the way we should be toward one another. It doesn’t seem right that I am the one who has to pay the painful price for someone who doesn’t seem that interested in my love for them. I know God loves us that way, but I am not God and when I try to do what I am told it usually doesn’t work right. When the pressure builds up in me because of my self centered mind and the failure of my life long problem solving skills, the whole thing about loving them is just too much. I know that John mentioned that God’s Holy Spirit has to be involved in this process, but how does that work? I have a feeling that this difficult time of year will be a wonderful opportunity for us to practice what it means to love like Jesus loves. Please pray for me and I will pray for you. May the Lord help us to grow up together. Lord please help us to Never Give Up on our journey through life.
1 John 4:10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. 11Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
Roy Wisner
