You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. Revelation 2:3-5
Today’s Reading: Hosea 5-8; Revelation 2
We are called to love.
Before anything else we are called to love because God is love. Nothing else is more important and the purpose that God has for each and every one of us is rooted in love.
It’s hard sometimes to remember that.
I had a job once where folks made ridiculous demands on my time. I started out with the focus of going above and beyond the call of duty to get things done for the teams that I supported, but there was no recognition of my efforts. I was constantly thrown under the bus. The harder I worked, the less it mattered. At least that’s how it seemed to me.
So, after a while I got tired of it and I started to do just enough to get by. The quality of my work suffered and some things went undone. I grew apathetic. “Who cares” I thought. “I’m going to get pressured and yelled at regardless so I might as well just do enough to get by, right?”
I know that I have acted the same way spiritually. When I have been treated poorly by certain people I responded in kind. What’s the point of showing them love when they only show me pain? Why not just love those that love me?
Well, it’s because we are called to live to a higher standard than that. We are called to love others how God loves them and to love them as we love ourselves. That’s hard to do in the face of abuse or mistreatment.
But, when we chose to love others the way that God loves us something changes. We won’t change that other person (that’s between that person and God) but we change. We grow closer toward the person we were put on this earth to be. The funny thing is that this growth provides the path to the doors that God wants to open for us. Before we know it we have loved our way through that tough situation and God has moved us on to something bigger and better.
Stay strong in love. The situation that is dragging you down won’t last forever.
This too shall pass.
Questions: When is the last time you surprised someone with an unexpected or undeserved act of love? How did they respond? How did it make you feel?
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. Revelation 2:3-5
Today’s Reading: Hosea 5-8; Revelation 2
We are called to love.
Before anything else we are called to love because God is love. Nothing else is more important and the purpose that God has for each and every one of us is rooted in love.
It’s hard sometimes to remember that.
I had a job once where folks made ridiculous demands on my time. I started out with the focus of going above and beyond the call of duty to get things done for the teams that I supported, but there was no recognition of my efforts. I was constantly thrown under the bus. The harder I worked, the less it mattered. At least that’s how it seemed to me.
So, after a while I got tired of it and I started to do just enough to get by. The quality of my work suffered and some things went undone. I grew apathetic. “Who cares” I thought. “I’m going to get pressured and yelled at regardless so I might as well just do enough to get by, right?”
I know that I have acted the same way spiritually. When I have been treated poorly by certain people I responded in kind. What’s the point of showing them love when they only show me pain? Why not just love those that love me?
Well, it’s because we are called to live to a higher standard than that. We are called to love others how God loves them and to love them as we love ourselves. That’s hard to do in the face of abuse or mistreatment.
But, when we chose to love others the way that God loves us something changes. We won’t change that other person (that’s between that person and God) but we change. We grow closer toward the person we were put on this earth to be. The funny thing is that this growth provides the path to the doors that God wants to open for us. Before we know it we have loved our way through that tough situation and God has moved us on to something bigger and better.
Stay strong in love. The situation that is dragging you down won’t last forever.
This too shall pass.
Questions: When is the last time you surprised someone with an unexpected or undeserved act of love? How did they respond? How did it make you feel?
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