Self Protection or Love

My friend, Jan, sent an email that said, "We all engage in self-protective behaviors that keep us from loving others well." I know she's a counselor now. But, boy does she get it and say it well.
Sometimes we are so into protecting ourselves, that we are incapable of loving others - well.
To love others well, we have to be able to project outside of our thinking and insecurities.

Today, try not so much protect yourself, as you do to extend yourself by loving others-well.

Words are an Indicator of Your Love

"Loving others isn't a gentle suggestion by Jesus - it's a command. Since our words are such a critical indication of whether or not we love someone, we would do well to carefully watch what we say." (page 108, Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl)

Slap my mouth!

Watch your words - it shows your love - or your lack of it!

Psalm 19:14 - May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord
Proverbs 10:19- When words are many, sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise
James 3:10- Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.

Words matter. Words can be love carriers, or love killers. Choose your words wisely & lovingly!

As Lysa says, (p. 111), be "committed to loving words."

Loving is Living the Truth of God ~ Out Loud

In following Lysa Terkeurst's book, Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl, she renders a truth that cuts to the quick of the situation:

"When we love others, we are living the truth of God out loud." (page 93)

What a great way to express God's love.

What a way to speak of His love in you.

Speak loudly today for God: LOVE.

Reliance & Love

"Rely on the love God has for us." I John 4:16

"People can prove unreliable, God never is." (Lysa Terkeurst, Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl, page 91)

What are you relying on to love?

If we rely on our feelings or their actions, it probably won't happen.

If we rely on good circumstances or positive feedback, it probably won't happen.

The only thing we can rely on, day in and day out, is God.

"Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless...Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you..." [2 Chronicles 14:11]

"Woe to those who go (elsewhere) for help, who rely on (other things), who trust in (other strengths)...but do not look to the Holy One...or seek help from the Lord. [Isaiah 31:1]

"And so we know and rely on the love God has for us." [I John 4:16]

Unfailing Love from a Compassionate God

Isaiah 54:10: "My unfailing love for you will not be shaken...says the Lord who has compassion on you."

Which means more to you, that His love for you is unfailing, unshaken, or that God has compassion on you?

They are both fully pregnant with thoughts for us and meaning for our lives.

Lysa Terkeurst in her book, Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl, says her "feelings of inadequacy are often rooted in a fear of failing." (page 91) We may fail, we will; but God does not. "God's love is unfailing despite what we do or don't do." (page 92) His love is unending, unfailing, and unshaken. God loves us. Feel and know that love today. Be assured. Be blessed. Be loved.

In God's Love With God's Love

"I must operate in God's love and operate with God's love."

(Lysa Terkeurst, Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl)

(page 90)

She explains, "Operating in God's love means understanding how His love can redefine my natural thought processes."

She continues her explanation, "Operating with God's love allows me to rest in a security beyond myself." (page 92)

Make it your goal today to ~ operate in God's love with God's love.

If you helps you think of it as cooperating in God's love with Him!

God's Love not Other People's Opinions

Lysa Terkeurst in her book, Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl, says she has learned "how crucial it is to let God's love, not others' opinions, be the truth out of which I operate." (page 83)

Which truth will you operate out of today? What truth will guide your life and daily decisions?

There is the truth, validity of other people's opinions, that change with the wind and the people that surround you. So-and-so said this, but so-and-so thinks this. BUT GOD, as they say...

What God says about you is truth, and it does not change.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadow." [James 1:17]

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." [Hebrews 13:8]

Thank God we have the assurance that if we obey Him, "God's love is truly made complete" in us. [I John 2:5] Let His love rule in your heart today, not opinion.

Loving the Wrong Things

Hosea tells of one persons fall from love, but not grace.
It is a story of how one wife turns to wrong things for love.
Hosea 3:1 says she turned "to other gods" and that she "loved the sacred raisin cakes."

I know I can easily turn to other things, instead of God.
I especially like tasty goodies too! She probably thought she was even better loving the sacred ones too. I bet they tasted better as well. At least they were more revered and probably esteemed. We are guilty too. We chase what we think are better things, but they are the wrong things.

Evaluate today what you are turning to, and what you are turning away from.

Looking for Love Opportunities

What opportunities is God giving you to love today?

Looking back, can you see how God has built/instilled love into your life?

Looking forward, can you see how you can build/infuse love into your future?

Looking at today, what opportunities are in front of you that you could take to make love more a part of your life and personality?

How Can You Love More?

Ask someone you love today, "How can I love you more?"
Ask yourself that question too.
Think about how you can love them more, and see what your answer is as opposed to their answer.
Asking yourself daily how you can love someone more is a great step toward more love.

Loves Much...Does Much

Thomas a Kempis said, "Whoever loves much, does much."

Loving is enough.
The more you love, the more you have done.
This is not what the world teaches. It teaches the more we do, the better we are.
The Bible teaches, the more we love, the more we do.

Think about loving more and perhaps doing less...

What We Love Becomes a Part of Us

"What we have once enjoyed, we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us."

Helen Keller

She may have been blind, but boy could she see matters clearly.

What you enjoy becomes a part of you.

You soak it up, you breath it in, you even embody it.

Phil 3:7,8 - Whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ...I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things...

Describing your Beloved

In the Song of Solomon there appears to be a song between a woman (the Shulamite) and her Beloved, a man, perhaps King Solomon. In chapter 5, the Shulamite, describes her beloved from his head and hair, through his eyes, cheeks, lips, hands, body, and legs. She ends with his countenance, and proclaims them all "Excellent!" She exalts him as "beloved" and "friend."

Think through the attributes of your beloved, and declare them all good.

Claim this as beloved and friend.

The Inability to Love

I heard a lady describe depression as "when you can't love."

Dostoevsky defined hell as the inability to love.

An inability to love, is crippling.

A capacity to love is exhilarating.

If you can't love, you aren't interacting with people in a positive way.
When you can't love, you are separated by a chasm of yours and mine.
When you can't love, there is no joy of togetherness or otherness.

When you aren't loving, what are you offering others ~ or giving to yourself?

Love is extending Grace

Noticing something new. Here's a large excerpt from the Sermon on the Mount. Note the context:

"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heave; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collector do so? THEREFORE, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." [Matthew 5:43-48]

Here's a whole teaching on love. But, it concludes with "be perfect." Haven't you often wondered how that is? Gray explained to me that this is extending grace, whether you/they deserve it or not. Rain on the just and the unjust, shows God's grace. Perfection evidently is embodied in extending grace. Extend grace today.

Love is a Light

"Love is the light - and, in the end, the only light - that can always illuminate a world grown dim and give us the courage needed to keep living..."

(Pope Benedict XVI from his First Encyclical, January 25, 2006)

Love is the light. It enlightens our steps. It glows with perspective. It illuminates us and those around us. The world is dim if not dark. We need light in us and around us.

Light up your world with love.

Loving is Vulnerability

"To love at all is to be vulnerable." C.S. Lewis

Loving is opening yourself up, not only to joy, but also to pain.

To love involves both.

It's accepting the pain along with the joy.

It's overlooking the bad and celebrating the good.

It's a nakedness before another human being.

It's an open door where good or bad can come in.

Love says, "bring it on."

Love is the currency of choice

"Love is the currency of eternity..." (Widows Workbook, page 6)

It's the only thing that goes forward.
It's the only thing that is eternal.
It's the only thing that has a reward.
It's spendable and renewable.
It only buys you just what you need: love.

What currency are you using?

The Natural Instinct for Love

Hannah Hurnard says we have a natural instinct for love: "This instinct for love so firmly implanted in the human heart, is the supreme way by which we learn to desire and love God himself above all else." [page 10, Hinds' Feet on High Places]

Where do your natural inclinations lead you?
Does love come naturally to you, or do you have to "work at it"?

St. Augustine said, "Thou has made us for thyself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in thee."

The love implanted in your heart, will lead you to God. Thanks be to God!

Loving Backward

Looking back on your history with love involves forgiveness and graciousness.

It involves acceptance of what's happened and trusting God for how He can use the past for good (Romans 8:28). It involves surrender to God for the future.

Can you look back and accept your past with love so you can move on into the future with love?

Loving Forward

Loving forward means sending love ahead of you in time to hopefully experience later or to bless others after you. It involves sending loving thoughts ahead to what you anticipate. It could involve preparations done with love for a future event, like sending people loving letters or gifts, anticipating and preparing for love in your future, or others.

Don't look back. You can love those who have been in your past. But love is a forward working type of thing. Love it forward, like it "pay it forward." You can't change your present. But, you can love your present, and send love onward into your future. Think of it as packing supplies up for the hurricane, when you need it. Think of it like sending a suitcase ahead for your trip. Send love out to others who will be there tomorrow, when you need it!

Disciplining Yourself to Love

How are you disciplining your day/life to think of love - to think loving thoughts?

What we think matters.

It determines how we act.

Discipline your mind to discard unloving thoughts, and to replace them with loving thoughts.

If we can pattern our thinking, we can determine our actions.

Determine to think about love, to look for love, and to act in love.

Renovating Yourself for a Life of Love

What do you need to lay down or give up to live a life full of love?

Like decorating or renovating a home, what needs to change to fit a lifestyle of love?

What needs to be around you?

What needs to be removed?

What would inspire you to love more, more completely, more sacrificially?

It may be a giving up, or it may be an addition. You decide.

Love as Life

If love is life ~ full, complete living...how are you living?

Is your life full of love?

If not, consider changing how you live.

What do you think?

Acronym for Love

Could this be an acronym for LOVE?

L - Living fully

O- Other-centered life

V- Victorious living

E- Eternal life

Think of that as a working acronym for love.

It's full of life and living ~ to the full, full of life and love.

A Capacity for Love

Fred Lacey, the Sunday School leader said, "A capacity for love is one of God's greatest gifts."

How great is your capacity for love?

Mine can be small.

But, God's is great.

Rely on His endless capacity for love to flow through you.

It's His gift to you. Share it.

Love is About God

"Ultimately, love is about God, not about us or what we do." (page 111, To Live is Christ)

Somehow, we have to learn love is not about us.

It's bigger than us.

It's about what's inside us, because it's about what's outside us.

It's not about you. It's about God. It's not what you are doing, but what He is doing through you.

What is your greatest love?

Peter Celano asked his readers in To Live is Christ, "If you are God's greatest love, what is your greatest love?" (page 99)

Contemplate that today: What is your greatest love?

Too often our love is for lesser things.

There are great joys: "You have filled my heart with greater joy..." Psalm 4:7

There are greater loves: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

"These three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." I Cor 13:13

As I Corinthians 12 concludes: Eagerly desire the greater gifts.

Are you asking the right questions?

If we ask the wrong questions, we may get the right answers, but it will be irrelevant, or lead us in the wrong direction.

What question(s) are you asking yourself each day?

What will make me happy?

What would be the easiest thing to do?

What will look good?

Ask yourself the better questions:

How can I show love in this situation?

How can I be more loving?

How can I demonstrate my love to them?

How can I keep my love real, authentic, and pure?