With Valentine’s day being only yesterday, I would like to touch on the subject of love. I don’t know how everyone feels about valentine’s day, whether you go big with chocolates, teddy bears, dinner, candles, and romance or if you really don’t do much different on this day of the year. But, I personally am not a go big kind of girl with valentine’s day and here is why: valentine’s day is a day devoted to showing your love for someone else and making them feel loved and special, but when you truly love someone you already should be showering them with love and making them feel special every day of the year. You shouldn’t need a special holiday to do this. Now I do not have anything against going out and having fun and doing special things on valentine’s day, but just be sure to continue showing the love on friday and every other day of the week. The Bible doesn’t say to love thy neighbor only on valentine’s day or to help someone out only one day a year. The bible tells us in John 13:34, A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. We are to love one another daily and continuously. The scripture makes its plain when it talks on the subject of not only loving your neighbors and brothers but also loving your enemies as it says in Matthew 5:44: But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; This is a tough concept for some and I get it, it’s hard to love someone who has hurt you. However, if you love God and pray over that which is hard for you to understand, God will give you understanding and peace so that you may love.
Love is a powerful tool. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says: Now these three remain: faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love. Without love, you have nothing. Without love, nothing you do matters. Love is the most important. Saying you love someone can be the easy part, especially if that someone is your friend or a spouse or loved one. And saying that you love your enemy may come more easily than you think over some time. But the real topic I want to touch on today is if you could guess it from my title, putting your love in action. Showing your love through actions. See, it is very easy to talk about love and to say it and to feel it but when you have to actually go out and act, a lot of people tend to get tripped up. It can be tough to give your last dollar to someone in need when you feel you need it. Or to give the coat off your back to someone who doesn’t have one when your other coat is at home and you might be cold for a bit. Or to take food to a family struggling to make ends meet when you have two kids and a husband of your own to feed. It can be tough for anyone so if you find it hard, you are not alone. But God tells us that He will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). God will not see our good works going forward to those around us and not bless us because of them if we are doing them out of the kindness of our hearts.
The bible tells us in Romans 12:9-21 (choosing to use the NIV version for this scripture for better understanding): Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
God will take care of the parts we cannot do ourselves. But we must do our part and that is to love and to show our love through our actions. Put our love into work. We must be prayerful in moving forward in our love and putting love into action. We are only humans and therefore it is easy for us to get tripped up, to become bitter, to hold grudges, to speak angrily toward someone who hurt us, but if we pray, we can receive strength and will be able to show our love and not be brought down by those who have hurt us or try to hurt us. As with anything else, it is a daily thing we must put into place in our lives, prayer, love, action, prayer, love, action, prayer, love action. Remember these things when you wake up in the morning. Go into battle through prayer, remember you are nothing without love and then go into the world and show your love through your action and works. Put love in the works.
He gives us Roots so we can Fly. Roots and Wings.
