Loving Your Neighbor

"Love your neighbor as yourself." This tenet is found in Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14; and James 2:8.

The interesting thing here is you never know who your neighbor will be. I've been fortunate to have great neighbors. Sometimes I feel my neighbors have been angels I have entertained unaware (Hebrew 13:2).

Neighbors can change too over the years, but the command does not.

Love & Integrity

Ron Greer in his new book, If You Know Who You Are...You'll Know What To Do, says, "Love is at the heart of a life of moral integrity." (page 82)

He spends his book outlining a life of integrity. He starts off with defining integrity: "it's doing the right thing when we know it's the right thing to do. It's who we are. It's being true to the lives to which we have been called." (page 9)

If you want to live a life of moral integrity, love must be where it starts. Let love be the heart of your life.

I Peter 1:22- Love one another deeply, from the heart

Proverbs 4:23 - Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life

It's all about recovering

My niece keeps thinking one thing I said to her is important: "It's all about learning to recover, because we're all recovering from something." There are major things we continually have to recover from, and there are the small things, like the latest insult. We're always in some state of recovery. Isn't that what the body teaches us? It needs sleep, rest, and time to recover from exercise or illness. Don't be hard on yourself, or others. We're all just doing the best with what we've been given. Remember that the next time it's hard to love yourself, or the person next to you.

Wanting the best for another

Neb Hayden defines love this way: "Love means to will the best for another." (page 90, his book 'When the Good News Gets Even Better.') I think that's a great definition. Can you think of a better? Do you think the best of others? Do you want the best for others? Not wanting the best for others is an indicator that something is wrong. When this happens, check your motivations and attitude. You may find out you're thinking more about you, and wanting the best for you and not the other.

Love and Thanks

Jonathan Edwards said: "There is love implied in thankfulness. True thankfulness is no other than the exercise of love to God on occasion of His goodness to us."

On this day of Thanksgiving, let there be thanks because there is love. When we love, we appreciate. When we appreciate, we love. It's a beautiful cycle not a vicious one. We need more beautiful cycles of love and thanksgiving.

Love is Sharing

Mother Teresa has so many wonderful quotes on love. I have combined 2 here:

"Love is sharing."

"Love is giving the best we have."

If love shares, it also wants to give the best it has. Love is not only sharing 'our stuff.' It is sharing the best of us and what we have to offer. Love is giving it's all. Love is giving. Love is giving the best we have. Love is always offering the best we have. Offer that today.

Lavish Love

I John 3:1 - "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!"

Ponder that for a while. We are children of God. Do we act like it? Do we love like it? We should reflect the love God has for us. We should be expressing the love He has shown us. We should be humbled by it and grateful for it.

God's love is lavish. It is eternal. It is beyond our comprehension. Just try to comprehend a little of it.

Love & Giving

My wise husband in his book says, "Love is the fuel for giving" as he writes on philanthropy. He also reminds the reader that philanthropy is the love of man. So, if we love man, we give. Like God in John 3:16...For God so loved, gave...

How's your giving? It's an indication of you love.

There's a good record: check your check book.

Love & Pain

Why should pain be a part of love? When I ask myself that, I realize immediately that it is because 'love cares.' If one cares, pain is a part of that relationship. Would I rather have a life free of pain, which means consequentially that I will have a life devoid of love? If we really ponder that - I think some would choose a life without love, so they would not have pain. But, in choosing love, I accept the pain that comes with it. I also partake of the joy. I also enter into something bigger than me and more fulfilling than a pain free life.

What does your love reflect?

In my friend Neb's writings (page 84 of When the Good News Gets Even Better) about dealing with people who are unkind or even hateful, he says Jesus taught us (in Matthew 5:38-48) and elsewhere in the Bible (I Thes 5:15; I Peter 3:9; Romans 12:14, 17-19), "that our response should be reflective of who we are not simply a reaction that mirrors our natural emotions." Does your love reflect who you are or reveal who you don't want to be? Our natural emotions can be confusing, and often not good. Don't let your love reflect who you aren't or don't want to be. Let your love reflect who made you, and loves you, and loves others. Don't be a reactor, be a generator.

No Love, No God

How can there be "no love?" There can only be a lack of love when God is not there. When God is absent there is a "God vacuum." And if wherever God is there is love, then wherever God is not, love is not there. Bring God into your lives, into your relationships, into your homes and businesses. He stands at the door and knocks, but we must invite Him in and allow Him (Revelations 3:20). He is not only a lover but a gentleman. The devil is a strongman and he strongarms his ways around and into our lives. As Joshua 1:9 says, "Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Sense the presence of God and look for love it all around you, let it be in you.

Love Thinks No Evil

The New King James Version of I Corinthians 13:5 says "Love Thinks No Evil."

Which made me look up 'evil.' Evil can be any/all of the following: wrong, malice, wicked, harmful. It also made me think that love thinks loving thoughts not ugly thoughts.

Love thinks the best of the other. That may be why in verse 7 it says 'love hopes all things.'

Love involves hope and charity in it's thoughts not evil or destructive thoughts.

Watch what you think, it effects your love.

Love through prayer, praying because you love

Let us pray with Nehemiah as he prayed, "O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant of love with those who love Him and obey His commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying..." (Neh 1:4-6)

Out of our love for our people and our nation, we too like Nehemiah should pray for our people and our land. Love moves us into great action. Love calls us to higher work. Love places a prayer in our hearts for our others. Let that love be unleashed today through pray.

Rooted & Established in Love

Ephesians 3:17-19, "...And I pray that you being rooted and established in love, may have power...to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Are you rooted in loved? Is love established in your heart and home and work place?

Is love what wells up in you? Does your "package," "your fruit," reveal what your roots are? You can only 'bear' what your roots are, i.e., what you really are.

You see on buildings, "Established...in so and so, a year." Let your love be established today. Make that marker in your life. Love is established here and mark the date.

Keep On Keeping On

Jude 21 says "Keep yourselves in the love of God."

Fall in love with God some more today.

Contemplate your love Him and His love for you.

Know that not only is there a God, but that He loves you. [I John 3:1; John 3:16]

He not only loves you, He planned you [Psalm 22:9,10; Psalm 139:13]

and has a plan for you. [Jeremiah 29:11; John 14:3]

He cares for you. [I Peter 5:7]

The only way we know love is that He loves us. [I John 4:19]

Pslam 57:10- For great is your love, reaching to the heavens...

Psalm 103:11 - For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him.

Zephaniah 3:17- The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.

Think Love

Proverbs 23:7 says, "As he/she thinks in his/her heart, so is he/she."

Well, if that's the case, let's THINK LOVE.

Give the gift of love ~ Smile

Mother Teresa also said, "Everytime you smile at someone, it s an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing."



If it is a beautiful thing, and a gift, and free!

What a wonderful gift you can give others.

What a beautiful expression of love.



Smile and love. Smile because you are loved.

Begin Love with a Smile

Mother Teresa said, "the smile is the beginning of love."



Begin love today by simply smiling.

You don't even have to smile at anyone.

Even if you're all alone, just smile.

See what a difference a smile can make.

See how it changes your heart, or perhaps someone elses.

Love and Truth Keeps Evil Out

I Corinthians 13:6 is a couplet: Love does not delight in evil, Love rejoices with the truth. It couples a negative with a positive. It seems the two concepts are tied together. It is also joined together in another verse, II Thessalonians 2:12 where it says those who have delighted in wickedness will be condemned, as well as those who have not believed in the truth. Could it be that if we are divorced, or even separated from the truth, we will engage in wrong (evil) activities? That seems to be the implication. Look for that implication in your life today. Check to see if you are rejoicing in the truth, so you will not take part in evil.

Taking our Responsibility to Love seriously

Pondering our responsibility to love, I realized anytime I fail to love, I let someone down. That's a huge responsibility. Whenever I fail to love, properly, someone else suffers, or looses something they should have had. God has given us relationships. Our part, our responsibility, is to love them, as He intended - no more - no less.

Do we comprehend the ramifications of our responsibility? Failing to love, is failing to live - rightly, the way God intended. We let others down, and we lose something ourselves...something that was intended for us or to be worked through us. We also let down our Divine Life and Love Giver, who decreed this for our good and the good of others, and for His glory.

Ponder this today.

Small things with Great Love

We all want to do great things for God, but I've discovered God may not desire great things out of me, but for me to do little things with great love. Which made me think of Mother Teresa's quote:

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

Which made me think of Paul's quote:

"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men." Colossians 3:23

Today, may that be our goal, small things with great love!

Love Does Not Hold Grudges

The Living Bible speaks so powerfully in their reading of I Corinthians 13. Their verse 5 says love does not hold grudges. How easy that is to do? We feel so justified to do it also. After all, they were wrong, they wronged us. We were done wrong. Well, there's self righteousness, isn't it? That's all about us, and what we're learning is love all about others and not about us. It's not me I'm concerned for, but them. So, if they did do wrong. I'm concerned for them, not mad at them. If I've been done wrong, I trust God with it. Hebrews 10:30 says, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay...The Lord will judge His people." That's a good thing to remember when we want to avenge, from a grudge we've been holding. God will make it all straight. Loving is trusting Him with the outcome.

Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who LOVE Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Love Extravagantly

I really like Gary Thomas' challenge built in a prayer in his book and devotional Sacred Marriage, "Lord, how can I love my spouse today like she/he has never been or ever will be loved?" If we could think this thought, ask this question, and live this out everyday, I know our spouses lives would be so much better. Our lives would have a different focus, and people around us would benefit from the overflow of a zealous love that is focused on loving others in an extravagant way. Love extravangantly today.

Love is a Verb

Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz, in their book John~Encountering Christ in a Life-Changing Way, say (page 106) "People sometimes use the word love as a noun. They erroneously equate it as a thing that you either possess or lack, as in "I don't have any love for him." But love isn't a noun in this context. It is a verb. It is something you do...When love is a verb, you can follow Christ's command to love each other even if you don't feel like it."

It's a great reminder, love is a verb, it's something you do, it takes action (not feeling).

Love is not a noun, you don't possess it, and you don't lose it - that's just an excuse not to act on the conviction of your heart and the call of your Savior.

Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs

I Corinthians 13:5 is stocked full of what love is not. In some way understanding what love is not, helps to shine light on what love is. In understanding what we're not suppose to do, it leads us to what we should do. It's a lot like training a child. Mostly you start with the "no's." "No," you don't do that. "No," you can't do that. Somehow, through the no's we learn our way.

I think a lot of us keep list: List of "To Do's"; grocery list; etc. But, I think a lot more of us keep list of how we've been done wrong. We can tick off quickly how you've failed us, how you were in error. Our error list is somehow vaguely forgotten, misplaced.

We have to train ourselves, to number one, forget to make the list. Once we quit making the list, we'll quit referring to it. And once we do that, we'll be a lot happier, and as a serendipity, so will they.

Love is Not Easily Angered

How easily are you angered? I know with me, it's pretty easy. Or maybe I should say, I'm easily frustrated, or quickly impatient. A person should not be fearful that we will be easily angered, this stifles relationships, if not kills it. Relationships need a secure place to be, and a secure person to be with. Relationships should be safe havens, where you can be you without fear of anger, criticism, or judgment. Not that anger, criticism and judgment are not part of relating, but that they should be in a safe setting of love. If you deliver these in a loving way, it should come across as love being the reason you are upset, or the basis for your critical evaluation - for the sake of the relationship, not to hurt the other person, or for the other person. Because as we know, helping the other person is what love is all about, not tearing them down. Anger always hurts the other person. Easy anger hurts more, it wounds the spirit of the other. Let's be really difficult to be angered. Doesn't that sound like a better way to relate? It will be better for you and for them.

(I Corinthians 13:5)

What do you notice?

"It will hardly even notice when others do it wrong." This is how The Living Bible reads for I Corinthians 13:5. This to me may be the whole key to love. I have to remind myself of this constantly. Everytime I am slighted, I remind myself - I am suppose to hardly even notice when others do me wrong. So, I have to dismiss it. I have to overlook it. I have to ask why I am so sensitive. I have to consider what's going on with them. That may be a better place for me to be - thinking of what is going on in their lives. I find they have difficulties they are dealing with, I find they are struggling with things I never realized. When you take the time to look at them and their lives, it brings compassion and understanding. This helps to feed our love for them.

Love is Not Irritable

Now, doesn't that just irritate you? To say love is not irritable, really irritates me. Of course I get irritated, don't you? The Living Bible goes on to say love "is not irritable or touchy." You can't help but think of the sand in the oyster that irritates to produce a pearl. Sometimes the irritations are there to work in us a great treasure. Sometimes though we may notice the irritations are there and they shouldn't be...in other words, we are being "too touchy", or too critical, or too self absorbed. The next time you notice you are irritated, ask yourself if it is there to produce something wonderful, or is it your self obsession. That way, either way ~ it can produce something wonderful!

Love is Not Resentful

The New Revised Standard Version reads "love is not resentful." (1 Corinthians 13:5)

The Hebrew interpretation means "sullen." The Latin there in 'sentir' is feeling. It conveys a re-feeling, going over it again. It connotes bitterness. Love has no bitterness, because it doesn't play the wrong acts over and over again (it keeps no record of wrongs- same verse). Love doesn't use things against the other person. It doesn't think badly of the other, another reading of verse 5 says it "thinks no evil." If we don't think bad thoughts, we don't get bitter, and we have no resentment. Check your hearts and see what you find, and remove what shouldn't be there and replace it with what should - LOVE.

Love is Not Self Seeking

The New International Version interprets 1 Corinthians 13 verse 5 as saying, "Love is not self seeking." That's definitely not "today." Today, we are all self seeking. After all, "we are worth it," we are told. Seeking your own ~ your own way, your own path, your own pleasure is what we are all about. This must be something contradictory to what the world teaches us. I think most of our problems stem from our eyes being on ourselves. Wonder what the world would be like if everyone sought the good of others, instead of just the self? This would really change the world. Wonder what it would do to our little worlds, if we just tried?

My life verse seems to apply here: Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)