In the last two posts, I talked about love. First, God is love and we need to know him to know what that love is. Second, I shared Bible verses to define love. Some of those verses will show up in the older post I am sharing today.
I hope we all find ways to understand this better and know how to show love to everyone around us, even those that may despise us. Let God heap the coals of wrath on their head while we do our best to be nice when confronted. Of course, if someone is very toxic, it is best to stay away from them as much as possible.
Sometimes we can’t get away from our enemies and their toxic ways. God will make sure we can handle the situation if we lean on him and let him guide us through it. It may not happen the way we expect. It could get worse before it gets better. It may come to some strong self defense moves. God will put what we need in our path at the right time and on the other side, we’ll know what he did for us beyond the obvious.
We can be our worst enemies with how we talk negatively about ourselves. People and circumstances in our lives may have built up ideas about ourselves that do not align with what God says. It takes a lot to tear down the lies and cut through the hurt.
I know some of my issues to this day stem from years of being bullied as a kid and not understanding some of the family dynamics until I was well out of the house. I was that kid that mom wasn’t sure how to relate to, but it was like she was all in on my sister’s life. She definitely tried, and I know a lot more about her personality now. Much of this was figured out when I accepted Jesus and learned what love truly was in a relationship with him. These studies on love are as needed by me as it is for anyone. I still have layers to dig through that are deep and hard to face. It’s like an onion. Each layer is more pungent and apt to make you cry harder.
What I wrote some years ago still stands as truth today. That is the great thing about God. He doesn’t change. We can change and so can the world, depending on the choices we make. We won’t have full peace and true love in all people before Jesus returns, but we can do our small part to shine his love into the world and stop some of the harm going on around us.
Love Stops Harm
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (1 John 4:8 NJKV) This is a stinger because if we truly know what love is, it definitely shows that we should know and understand God. God created and programmed us to desire connection with Him, but He loved us enough to give us free will to choose to come to know Him and relate to Him. Our ability to understand love and relate to others here on earth properly depends on our choice to follow God.
Let’s look at Romans 13:8-10. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
It appears we need to have love in order to not harm others. Otherwise, we are going to be selfish and commit one of the things listed in these verses. It counts if you just think about it. Where your heart lies is where your thoughts will go and thus determine your actions. Galatians 5:14 NKJV, For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." This is the second commandment and to know love, we have to know and love God, which is the first commandment. Then the other eight are easy to do if we get a handle on the first two. If you do not properly love your neighbor, you won’t properly follow the commandments and harm will come.
So let’s do what 1 John 4:16 NKJV says. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God in him. If we believe in God and learn to relate to him with love as He loves us, we can properly love even our enemies and not cause harm of any type to anyone.
Don’t expect to be perfect and not cause some issues, but know you can learn from every mistake and overcome what has stopped you from loving properly. What will you do today to get into God’s love and learn to show proper love to others?