Love

I think the Lord has been convicting me about this topic. So many times we think of love as the mushy stuff we see on TV or what we felt when we met our spouses. That love is often times conditional. I will love you only if you stay within these boundaries. That is not the kind of love that our Heavenly Father has called us to. He has called us to love like He has, giving His life so that we might be saved. "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us." 1 John 3:16a Now for most of this we just give lip service to loving others because if we truly loved people it might cost us something we want. (This is where the conviction comes.) People, including myself, are too self-absorbed to look up and around and see the hurting of those around us. We are to love with our actions as well which means we have to know about people first. "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." 1 John 3:18-20 So my challenge for myself has been to look up and out and find those who may need a little extra love this week.