Today is the beginning of a new year which, for most people, also marks a fresh resolve to become happier, healthier, richer, or skinnier.
It's good to make goals. Proverbs says that where there is no vision, people perish (29:19), and that when our goals are in accord with His revealed will and purpose for our lives, we can expect His blessing (James 4:3).
My goal, by the grace of God, is to love.
I'm not just talking about loving people who are easy to love: my children, husband, parents, blogging pals, and others who are dear to my heart. It takes no effort to be patient, kind, and enduring to those who share my beliefs, convictions, and ideas and love me back.
"For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful." Luke 6:32-36Love is sacrifice. Love is love when it involves how I relate to the unlovable.
Love gives, expecting nothing in return (Luke 6:35). Love gives up sleep to nurse my babe in the middle of the night; baby-sits other children without believing their parents owe me one; stuffs envelopes for ministry organizations without expecting a paycheck or a pat on the back.
Love blesses those who curse me (Luke 6:28). Love responds with a soft answer to those who troll my Facebook page and blog, watching for opportunities to leave critical, harsh, or dissenting comments that prove how little I really know.
Love does not insist on having its own way (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love enables me to give up my clothing preferences and paint color choices for my husband's and fold his socks like his Mom folded them. Love makes submission a joyful service. Love cares for families who are contagious with the flu I haven't had yet. Love puts someone else ahead of myself.
Love is patient (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love doesn't snap "Hurry up; we're going to be late!"; "Don't you get this? We've been through it a thousand times!"; or get aggravated by piles of clothes on the floor, a toothpaste cap gone missing, or toilet seat in the upward position.
Love does not envy (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love is content. Love does not wish for someone else's clothes, personality, beauty, vacations, husband, degree, position, environment, fame, or fortune (Exodus 20:17).
Love does not boast (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love will not boast in anything: no gifts, no power, no wisdom. Love can only boast in Jesus Christ, His death and resurrection (How Deep The Father's Love For Us by Stuart Townend). Love remembers that Jesus came into this world to save sinners, of whom I am chief (1 Timothy 1:15).
Love is not arrogant or rude (1 Corinthians 13:4). Love does not engage in personal attacks, but informs and reasons in kindness and truth. Love presents opinions on educational methods, vaccines, diets, and birth control for the purpose of being helpful, not hurtful.
Love is not irritable or resentful (1 Corinthians 13:5). Love does not look for ways to be offended or take opportunities to hold a grudge. Love does not judge another's motives. Love assumes the very best of others in the same way I want them to assume the very best about me (Luke 6:31). Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love forgives seventy times seven (Matthew 18:22).
Love does not rejoice at wrong doing, but rejoices with the truth (1 Corinthians 13:6). Love does not mean I will refuse to quote passages like 1 Corinthians 6: 9-11 for fear of offending homosexuals. Love is intolerant of abortion, Islam, homosexuality, humanism, adultery, theft, gambling, and drunkenness because they are opposed to Truth. When we condone sin by our silence or our fear of man rather than God, we keep people from Truth instead of leading them to it. Love desires another's salvation over their damnation.
Perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). Love doesn't worry about what people think of me or if they gossip behind my back. Love does not fear rejection, criticism, false accusations, disapproval, or misunderstanding. Love is concerned with keeping God's commandments (John 14:15), the chief of which is to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself."(Luke 10:27)
If I do not have love, I have nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2), but I can love because He loved me first and His love never fails (1 John 4:19; 1 Corinthians 13:8). He offered His only Son as a ransom to prove His love and that kind of self-sacrifice is what I want to mark my relationships in 2014 and onward.
Have you resolved to do anything differently this year? Can you sum it up in a word? I'd love to hear the goal you're pursuing this year!
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