Love

I am going to talk to you from my heart and sprinkle it with God’s Word today.

Please read Nehemiah 8:10, “Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

But, what if you have lost your joy like Job did for a time?  And, kind of like Job,

would you want friends like the three friends that Job had that were always preaching down to him, telling him that he was too proud and arrogant and there had to be sin in his life and he had better repent and get it together?  Or, would you like friends that really loved you with more than just words and not just judged you saying that they had your best in mind?  I think you would prefer the ones that didn’t judge you, if they didn’t really know much about you or your lifestyle or your heart.

We do this many times to one another, which is a big hindrance and not a help at all.  We think we can put people back together when we don’t have any idea of why they are broken in the first place, just like Job’s three friends.  Then when the person we claim to love and want to help strikes back, we withdraw and use the excuse, forget them I tried but they rejected me so forget it, or that they are making it very hard to be a friend but they claim they love you.  The word love gets thrown around so much it is like throwing around your dirty socks and, many times in the end, it stinks like people’s dirty socks because it isn’t love at all.  That is because many of us have no idea what love really means, we just say it depending on our mood at the time.

Let’s face reality, if everyone loved people the way that the Lord’s Word says we should, the church would look a whole lot different than it does and far more people would want to be a part of it!!  It seems easy to tell people what they should or should not be doing but it is much harder to love those that do the things that we do not agree with.  The Word of God says to love the Lord your God with all you heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind but how many of us can say we love God that way; then it says to love your neighbor as yourself.  But, loving your neighbor isn’t always easy.  I know that you always should use the truth but it is how you use it that makes the difference.  God’s Word says this in Proverbs 15:1, “A gentle answer turns away wrath but a harsh word stirs up anger.”  

Many times the best thing we can do is to listen and not talk and definitely not stand in judgement of our neighbor and just be there for them when they need you and want your advice or your help.  I want to say this up front, I have been guilty of this myself and I have experienced it myself also, that’s why I am writing about this subject, but thank the Lord I am learning and hopefully I won’t be so apt to keep making this mistake over and over again.  I hope this has been of help to you and, if you need to rethink the way you dialog with people, you will.  May the good Lord bless you and yours and may you have a super day!!