Will You Love Me For Me

I believe this is the silent scream of many, many people in all walks of life, believers and non-believers alike.  Their silent scream is this; will you love me for me and not just the way you want me to be, not just for what you can get from me or if I say the right words or fit into your little mold, no, love me for me.  Don’t say you love someone but when they don’t agree with you on every point, you start ignoring them.  Who are you trying to kid, people see right through that façade?  

It seems like most people have an agenda and as long as you fit into their agenda people claim they love you, but woe to you if you step out of their preconceived little box, then you aren’t worth their time and energy to put up with you.  No one is perfect in this life, not you or me, but if you say you love someone then you need to accept their imperfections along with their good and bad traits.  If you claim to be a believer and you act this way, shame on you.  If you are struggling with someone’s faults and failures or their outward appearance, don’t tell them you love them, you will only hurt them in the end.  How many times have you heard someone say they love you but when it was all said and done you ended up nursing a broken heart?  If anyone wants to resemble Jesus they need to throw their agenda away and love like Jesus loved because without genuine love, no matter what position you have, it means nothing.

Here are the characteristics of love, according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:1-8, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.”  

Think about this, sometimes I don’t agree with what the Lord has allowed in my life and I don’t like the way I struggle each day with the physical problems that I have, that He could take away but He doesn’t choose to, but you can find me in my bedroom alone most every morning praising and thanking Him and telling Him I love Him.  Sometimes I don’t like what his Word commands me to do but I still love Him and try to please Him because of who He is and what He is, regardless of what He does or doesn’t do I still love and praise and thank Him.  

If we are in Christ we need to try our best to love the Lord and our neighbors the same way.  Jesus loved His enemies and gave His life for them and we can’t even love our brothers and sisters in the Lord, shame on us!!  

Question: What kind of love do you have in your heart, one that builds up or one that ultimately tears down and destroys?  Think about it!  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!

PS listen to this song By JJ Heller called, “What Love Really Means.”  Don’t forget to thank and Praise the Lord!!