How to Love

Despite receiving great love, it’s difficult at times to show love to others consistently. Let’s be honest: our first instinct is not to show love but to be selfish. If we feel like it, if it’s the right person, if it’s easy to do… then we’ll show love. If things don’t line up just so, we’ll be hard pressed to show any kind of love.

But, as Christians we are striving to be more like Jesus. We are His ambassadors, and He was the epitome of love. We have to learn how to give the same kind of love that He gave.

First, it starts with prayer. There’s no use trying to do anything without the help of the Holy Spirit! We’ve got to go before God and acknowledge that we want to change, we want to do better, and we want to show love. We have to ask for His help to soften our hearts toward others.

Once we ask Him to help us to change, He’s going to provide opportunities for us to live that change. People will start crossing our paths that need love. Situations are going to arise where we are going to be challenged to show love. God will place requests on our hearts for us to be love to others.

At first you may have to force yourself to do it. You may have to act out love even when you don’t genuinely feel it inside. As you keep practicing love, God will work the change in your heart.

Plus, there’s an added bonus: When you show love, you get it in return. Just like the Bible says, whatever you give out, you’re going to get back. (Galatians 6:7) When you push out love, you’re going to get a whole lot of love coming back your way. That should be a heap of encouragement to keep up the good work. Soon, love will become a habit, and after that second nature. Before you know it, the fruit of love will be evident in every area of your life!

Now, there will be times when you show love and don’t get it back in return. There is going to be that person who, no matter how much you try to show love, is going to throw a whole lot of hate back in your face. It is to those people that you should show the greatest love.

Jesus took the time - in the midst of the excruciating pain He was experiencing while He hung on the cross – to ask God to forgive those who had put Him there. He showed love down to the very person who had hammered the nails into His hands.

Jesus is our hero. He’s the One all of us should be trying to be like every day. If He can show love even to the folks who killed Him, the least we can do is love the people who hate on us. The more love we show, the more we become like Jesus. The more like Jesus we become, the prouder our Heavenly Father will be of us.

Verse of the Day: Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. 1 John 3:16-18