Sunday, January 12, 2014
By: Gwen Hitt
No Pretense ... Just Love
Romans 12:9 Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them.
Today marks the very first service of Cross Church of Houma. In a recent message sent to their dedicated launch team members, Brandon and Rachelle Bilbo wrote "Cross Church WILL be a place where people are LOVED and are forever changed."
Our scripture for today cautions us to REALLY love others ... not to just pretend that we do. Love should not be thought of as only a feeling or an emotion. Instead, it should be viewed as a decision to care for someone even when we don't feel like it.
Paul writes in Philippians 1:9: "And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more." Abound means to grow and that is what God wants us to do. He wants us to make a decision to love the individuals He places in our lives AND to cultivate that love ... to make it grow.
My challenge to you today is to think of the most difficult person you know. Then, I want you to reflect on how much Jesus loves you. Finally, I want you to understand that you have been instructed by Jesus to love that person in the same way.
Dear Lord, I am so grateful for the love that You have for me. I ask that You heal any hurts that have kept me from loving others. Open my heart to REALLY love those around me as You love me.
I thank You, my Jesus, for dying for me. I believe that You are Lord and that God raised You from the grave so that I can have eternal life.
Reflection: Do you believe that love can change the unchangeable?
