A Lesson in Love

I walked the earth knowing that I was rejected by the majority of the very same people I came to save. 

The very same people I knew I would suffer and die a criminal’s death for, I knew I was rejected by.

Yet still I loved them.

Yet still I walked in humility and gentleness, in strength and in wisdom.

I walked in righteousness and joy, postured in self-control.

I walked in love.

When you can love the very same people who reject you, you win. 

You grow in power and stature because your ability to love is not based upon a response. When loving others doesn’t require a positive response you are released to love extravagantly, to love as I love you. You become emboldened because you are put into a place where you have nothing to lose. It becomes a mindset built on knowing that you can afford to love extravagantly because your decision to love is not built on the other person’s response – it is not an exchange. Therefore, the decision to love is about standing firm in the true source of all love, my Father.

Reflection: Reflect on 1 John 4:19: We love because he first loved us. Consider what your understanding of this verse means. Ask Holy Spirit to take you into a deeper revelation of this verse and what it means to live this out. 

1 John 4:15-17 (NIV)

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgement: In this world we are like Jesus. 

Lamentations 3:22-24 (CSB)

Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness! I say, “The Lord is my portion, therefore I will put my hope in him.”