Don’t Barter With Love, Give It Away Freely
*Choice 3 of 10 in the Take Back Your Life Blog Series
So often we think of love as a feeling. But the apostle John’s admonition to love “in deed and truth” says nothing of feelings. In fact, if we are to only love when we feel like it, we will get ourselves into big trouble in our marriages and friendships. Feelings make great followers, but lousy leaders.
*Choice 3 of 10 in the Take Back Your Life Blog Series
So often we think of love as a feeling. But the apostle John’s admonition to love “in deed and truth” says nothing of feelings. In fact, if we are to only love when we feel like it, we will get ourselves into big trouble in our marriages and friendships. Feelings make great followers, but lousy leaders.
God commands us to love as a gift, as an act of grace. He is the source of such unconditional love, and we experience it daily, as we taste His grace and forgiveness. With the help of His Spirit, we can learn to give His love to others even when they don’t deserve it. That’s grace-based love.
But we must make a deliberate choice to “just do it,” to act lovingly, whether we feel like it or not. What’s amazing about loving others unconditionally is that once we deliberately set out to just do it, the very act of doing so tends to generate within us renewed feelings of love and affection.
So treat love as a gift, not a wage or a bribe, and give it freely without expectation of anything in return. In Luke 6:32, Jesus questions that if you use “love” as a wage, paying back those who first loved you “what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.”
You may wonder why I included this as one of the 10 choices to take back your life. Jesus promises that if you “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return…” then, “…your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” (vs. 34). If you want to take back your life, love like God and watch how life changes right before your eyes. Think about it, love is one of the few things in life that actually increases when you give it away!
This week, let’s try an experiment: think of one person in your life who is difficult to love. Perhaps you don’t “feel” any love for them and they don’t deserve any love from you. Now, go out of your way to do one act of love for them, expecting nothing in return. Show them grace and see how God blesses you and/or the relationship.
But we must make a deliberate choice to “just do it,” to act lovingly, whether we feel like it or not. What’s amazing about loving others unconditionally is that once we deliberately set out to just do it, the very act of doing so tends to generate within us renewed feelings of love and affection.
So treat love as a gift, not a wage or a bribe, and give it freely without expectation of anything in return. In Luke 6:32, Jesus questions that if you use “love” as a wage, paying back those who first loved you “what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.”
You may wonder why I included this as one of the 10 choices to take back your life. Jesus promises that if you “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return…” then, “…your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.” (vs. 34). If you want to take back your life, love like God and watch how life changes right before your eyes. Think about it, love is one of the few things in life that actually increases when you give it away!
This week, let’s try an experiment: think of one person in your life who is difficult to love. Perhaps you don’t “feel” any love for them and they don’t deserve any love from you. Now, go out of your way to do one act of love for them, expecting nothing in return. Show them grace and see how God blesses you and/or the relationship.
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