It’s All About Love

It’s All About Love

1 Peter 1: ²² Now that by your obedience to the truth you have purified yourselves and have come to have a sincere love for other believers, love one another earnestly with all your heart. ²³ For through the living and eternal word of God you have been born again as the children of a parent who is immortal, not mortal. ²⁴ As the scripture says,

“All human beings are like grass,
    and all their glory is like wild flowers.
The grass withers, and the flowers fall,
²⁵     but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

This word is the Good News that was proclaimed to you.

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Sitting around the thugs who threatened to beat me up unless I allowed them to copy off my paper made me want to leave them. So I did. Seeing childish people selfishly try to get their own way made me want to leave them. So I did. Working on a job with extremely poor leadership made me want to leave the company. So I did.

 

• I have left people and said “good riddance.”
• I have felt relieve when I got away from certain people.
• I realized later, that I had absolutely no compassion for certain people.

 

Peter gives the great commandment that JESUS gave before HE ascended to heaven. “Love one another.” Peter focused on the sincerity of love. He probably saw that people would love those they could get things from, but would not love people who were harder to love. He then says that GOD’s love is different, because it is not temporary.

 

My Observations:

• GOD’s love for me and you is so strange because HE cares for me even when I sin.
• GOD forgives me enough to correct me and guide me to HIS type of love.
• Human love is temporary, manipulative and conditional whether we think so or not, BUT GOD’s love is unconditional, above sin and permanent.

Love one another is as simple as it gets, but seems to be nearly impossible. I mean, in the days or relative truth, love can be something nearly impossible to achieve because each person can say “You are not loving ‘me’ the right way.”  BUT GOD sees through this childish ploy.

 

GOD sees the heart and knows when I am being selfish. HE told me I have to fight the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, to realize I can be blinded by these things. HE then opens my eyes to the example of JESUS who loved people so much that HE died for them. I am so glad JESUS cares for me and wants me to use HIS examples of love.

 

Challenge

• What type of love is the writer talking about?
• Do you have an image of what love looks like to you and are upset that he or she is not providing “love” the way you think you should have it?
• Will you ask GOD to guide you to what HIS love looks like so HE can fill your heart with HIS type of love for other people today?