(1 Jn 4:16 NASB)
… and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. (Ep 5:2 NASB)
… and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ep 5:2 NIV)
Love is not a set of rules, that if we just follow them, we will be doing it right. As a matter of fact, love is more about being than about doing, Love is more about being Jesus to those we are around, than it is about doing something for them.
If we approach walking in love as doing, we will not draw close to the heart of God, nor will we enable others to. We can do and say a lot of good things, without caring about the individual, but only that we respond correctly. However, we will never be Jesus to those around us without loving Him and them. It is far more than a general love for mankind, though we should have that. It has to be individualized. It has to be towards the person who is before us right now.
Love cares … Love helps … Love gives … Love adds … Love values … Love always wants God’s best for whoever is before us. To quote from 1 Corinthians 13 “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;
The kind of love that God requires we walk in cannot be worked up. It can only be walked out as we worked out what God has put within us. It doesn’t come by study, though that illumines our mind. It doesn’t come by being encourage to, though that will increase our resolve. It only comes as we take time to let the tide of God’s Spirit and God’s Word wash through us, flowing in and flowing back out changing us, changing our motives, and changing those around us.
I came across the following poem which seem to fit well with these thoughts.
Walk In Love
By Curtis R. McComis
Without sunshine, a plant will die
So without love a person will also die
Love is our breath of life
Love is the first gift of the Holy Spirit
Love holds a sick person's hand
Love looks beyond our faults and meets our needs
Love is the vitamins that keeps us healthy
Love stays in all types of weather
Love is the same today and forever
Love heals the broken-hearted
Love is not some kind of feelings and emotions
but love is actions comforting the lonely
Love has eyes to see, and ears to hear
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