Loving Others

Hello everyone! Welcome back to Leaving Lesser! I am so glad that you are here! Today we are going to be diving deeper into what God’s word says about loving others. We discussed this briefly in my last post and I know that it may sound a little repetitive but God is leading me to discuss this at a deeper level. I know that this is something that a lot of people struggle with and something that I tend to struggle with as well. So let’s begin! What does it really mean to love others? John 13:34 KJV says, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” Now, we are called to love one another like Jesus does. Loving others isn’t just about being kind or friendly to people, but also about being selfless in putting others needs above our own. Jesus performed the ultimate and greatest act of selflessness and love by sacrificing His life for our sins! How incredible! Now, I’m not saying that we must all go out and sacrifice our lives for everyone to show selflessness because that is not what we are here to do, that’s what Jesus was sent for! We should perform other selfless acts such as giving someone who is hungry our food, or paying for their groceries with our grocery money, or taking time out of our day to help someone else. Along with being selfless, we must also do our best to lift others up, not tear them down or look down upon them, no matter what their situation is or what they may have done to us. It is God’s job to judge us, not ours! As discussed in my last post, God says to love our enemies, not just our friends. I know that sometimes it is really hard to love others, to love people who hurt us, or who have wronged us, or who don’t believe the way that we believe but Leviticus 19:18 KJV says, “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am the LORD.” God says to love thy neighbor. Not to just love thy friendly neighbor, or thy loving neighbor, or thy perfect neighbor, He just says to love thy neighbor. I know we’ve all had neighbors that were hard to love but God says to love them anyway! We’ve all heard the saying, “Try walking a day in someone else’s shoes.” It’s so important to remember this when showing love to others. Only God knows what circumstances people are going through and only God knows their hearts and how He is working in them. It is not our place to criticize them but it is our place to love EVERYONE as best we can! Consider this thought: I’m sure that we’ve all been in situations where we were hard to love, yet someone loved us anyway. Jesus loves everyone regardless of what they’ve done, who they are or where they come from, and all He asks of us is to accept Him into our hearts, repent of our sins, and be baptized! so we must remember to set our differences aside and love like Jesus! 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” This is a very popular scripture reading that is used frequently at weddings but it is important to remember that these verses do not just apply to the love shared between you and your spouse. It’s describing what love is for EVERYONE! 1 Corinthians 13:3 NIV says “If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.” Which to me means that even if I do great things for others but I don’t have love for them in my heart then all of these things are done in vain and for no reason. 1 Corinthians 13 talks a lot about love and the last verse in chapter 13 says that out of hope, faith, and love the greatest of these is love! Without love there is nothing, without love we are nothing because let us not forget that God is love! Sharing Gods word and Gods love is the best way to show someone love because we want them to spend eternity in paradise and not in torment! I understand that sometimes it is very difficult to share God’s word with people and that many people may take offense to it but imaging standing at the gates of heaven, ready to walk through and your friend, your family member, or someone that you knew was calling to you from the gates of hell asking you, with tear stained eyes, “Why didn’t you tell me about Jesus?” How devastating would that be? It is important to explain to people that we are sharing Gods word because we love them, not because we want to offend or degrade them. So don’t hesitate to talk about Jesus with anyone when God calls you to do so because what better way to show someone love than to talk about what love actually is! I pray that these words have touched someones heart today and has encouraged you to tell someone about Jesus! I pray that those who have been hurt by someone has left those feelings of hatred and resentment behind and replaced them with feeling of love and forgiveness as God has loved and forgiven you. I pray that you have gained a deeper understanding on how to love others as Jesus has called us to do! I pray that you have grown closer to God while reading this post and that you are able to feel His presence surrounding you! I pray that you were able to leave a little bit of the lesser you behind and that you have become greater in Christ! Thank you for joining me in studying about loving others, I hope that this has encouraged you today!

~Love and Prayers, Nadene

P.S. Feel free to leave comments with your favorite verses or passages on loving others or any input that you may have reflecting love for others! I look forward to hearing from you!