The message was good, but I'll be honest and say that what hit me the hardest about this is the fact that it made me think of the dents I see in others. I read it and I think oh my gosh...that's totally what this person does, which is definitely NOT what is supposed to happen in my heart. I guess that's what the entire devotional is about, anyways--obviously I'm not looking past the dents.
So how do I address this problem and look past the dents? I don't know--I defend myself because I feel as though I'm viewing life through a lens of hurt and pain. It's hard to see beyond dents when you feel completely run down. In the church I've been to the past two weeks, the pastor has been doing a series called Uncommon Love, focusing on 1 John 4:9-12. Last week, he talked about how, if you want any relationship in your life to work, you have to live in a state of constant forgiveness. You must forgive continuously. You know the definition of continuous? I like this one best: forming a series with no exceptions or reversals. Constant forgiveness--no exceptions, no reversals, no matter what. That's how Jesus did it. It's just much easier said than done.
I wrote this post almost two years ago. I don't really think back to it, but today I remembered it and went back to read it. It's cool because I was going through a very similar situation at the time--just dealing with hurt and experiencing the way people fail to love (I'm not trying to sound self-righteous here; it's kind of a general fact of life. Because we are human, we are incapable of loving unselfishly). I referenced 1 John 4:16-19-
1 John 4:16-19 says, “God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect…such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.”
As humans, we are rendered incapable of loving others fully if we don't have God's love in us. Our love can only go but so far. Let's face it: we've all had times where we feel like our love just hits a wall. You feel drained--your heart is broken and you have absolutely nothing left to give. In the words of Vicki Gunvalson (Real Housewife of Orange County...sorry not sorry), our "love tanks" dry out. When your love tank is dry, it becomes impossible to look past the dents. So I think I need to direct my focus toward "we love each other because he loved us first." You can reverse the words: He loved us first, so now we love each other. What I'm realizing now is how critical the first part is. He loves us, and it is ONLY for that reason that we are able to love each other. We are only able to look past each others dents when we live in God's love--when his love flows through us. Because our love stops. It does hit the wall at times (more often than I'd like to admit). But his doesn't. Thus, as we get tired and broken and have no love left to give, we must draw further into the Lord and rest in his love--his love doesn't run out. Essentially, what I'm saying is that as God fills us up, our hearts overflow--not with our limited love, but with his infinite love. Does that make any sense?
We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
-1 John 4:19 (MSG)
No comments:
Post a Comment