The Call to Love

If there is one thing that the Lord has been challenging me with is the call to love.

Matthew 5:43-48

You have heard that the Law of Moses says, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as a true child of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust too. If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagens do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.

This is a powerful verse that can easily get looked over. There are so many times we meet people we grow to love, and there are so many people that we meet, that we just have a hard time getting along with. This has been a very big challenge for me. For years I would either ignore, or talk about the person who I did not like-sadly I have to say that this is one of my biggest faults. When I meet someone who I have a difficult time to get along with, I will usually just ignore them, or pretend that they do not even exist. Let me ask you something; is that how a true disciple of Christ should act?

No.

We are to love those who we do not get along with. One may ask how in the world is that even possible? It is possible all through Christ.

This last week I have been a mess because I have been walking around carrying sadness, anger, and just overall being upset that I am having a hard time getting along with this one person. I will literally bend over backwards to make someone like me. I have a hard time knowing that there is someone out there who does not like me. I worry so much about how I appear to others, I care so much about what people think about me. My question is, why do I worry so much about what people think about me, and not enough about what God thinks about me?

I walk around holding grudges against people; I walk around talking behind others backs….is that the way a true disciple should act? No. I am to not talk bad about people, I am to love them. Like what the Scriptures say, “How are you different from anyone else?”

I am not different from that person who I like; I am not any different from the person who I do not like. We are all sinners; we have all been brought back to life because of Christ.

Karen lived by this verse above. She accepted all, she loved her friends, and she loved her enemies. She never talked badly about anyone. I want to live like this.

I have seen firsthand what it means to love everyone. Karen did not care what color you were, she did not care what age you were, she did not care if you were fat or skinny, she did not care if you had zits all over your face..She showed a never ending amount of love. She took in all, and she considered everyone a friend. I want to live like this; I want to love like this.

The love that Karen showed to others, greatly impacted hundreds upon hundreds of people, she made loving others her mission.

Lord, I am so sorry for all of the anger, for all of the grudges that I have held against others. Lord I pray that you would transform my heart and I pray that I would reflect your love to others. Lord I ask for forgiveness, I ask for forgiveness for all of the negative that I have thought. I pray that you would help me to love my enemies; I pray that I would speak and think nothing but love for others. Lord, I ask that you take away all of the anger that I have carried for years. I pray that you would continue to make me YOUR disciple, I thank you for convicting me of this, and I give you a heart of thanks for transforming me. I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.

I love all of you out there reading this blog.

-Sarah