As this love month of February comes to a close, I want to make a challenge to everyone reading this blog:
LOVE SOMEONE in a NEW way today.
It may be “our duty” to buy the chocolates, the flowers, the card, etc. for Valentine’s Day or even a birthday. Let’s start the tradition of loving others when they least expect it or even when we don’t desire to. Ouch!
One of my favorite daily podcasts is by Chip Ingram with “Living on the Edge.” His insights are practical, Biblically based, and incredibly candid. Even though he has been a Pastor for many years, he doesn’t hold back in telling you the current and past struggles along life’s way. One definition he gives for LOVE is this:
“Giving others what they NEED the most, when they deserve it the LEAST at GREAT PERSONAL COST.”
Do you know what we can liken that to as a perfect analogy? The cross.
As we enter into Lent and the season of Pentecost, remember Jesus didn’t wait for a February 14 moment to love us. The hatred of him among the religious leaders of his day only increased, and the definition of love above is what he fully demonstrated on that “Good Friday.”
Let’s love someone around us WELL with His love. Maybe it’s the grumpy neighbor, the difficult child, or the judgmental friend. Write a note instead of a text, drop off a care package and stay to chat before rushing on to “better things” in your “busy” day. I had my youngest son’s soccer team over last weekend for a few hours (7-10 year olds) and you would have thought these families won the lottery; they were all beyond appreciative! The kindness and love we were able to pour out on the kids and parents from such a simple act was very rewarding. I’m eternally grateful Our Savior left the comforts of heaven to be WITH US and ultimately to SAVE US; may WE be willing to lay down any comforts and give of our time to bestow His love on others too.
Lastly, many ponder LENT as a season of sacrifice, and they give up something (chocolate, social media or meat). I recently heard someone comment that the way Jesus SERVED us may actually be a more appropriate response in this time: to ADD something to our routines instead of merely subtracting. Before you serve any person around you, ADD time with Christ as your FIRST priority every morning and/or evening! He should be Our heart’s delight and most precious relationship, but only if we give Him our most precious commodity: TIME.
A suggestion for this is to begin in one of the gospels and read a chapter a day before Easter (totally do-able)! Here are the number of chapters in each gospel as a reference below:
Matthew (28), Mark (16), Luke (24), John (21).
Jesus, I dedicate the month of MARCH to spending time with You. Rather than only subtracting a habit, allow me to ADD IN time to seek Your face.
Leave a comment to let me know you were here, dear ones!
This was wonderful thank you for thinking of me and god
bless you!
Thank you for sharing your heart with us Krystal. No matter the month, this is always a good reminder as loving in the way that Jesus did is easy for us to forget.