Hosanna Restoration Church

I don’t know about you, but I am really glad that lightning does not strike me every time I say or do something that is not loving! The New King James tells us to do and say things as one who will be judged by the law of liberty. How is it that the very law that God intended to set us free, the law of love, appears to really make our lives more difficult? I think it is another of those predicaments like Paul ran into, where he found himself doing the things he did not want to do and not doing what he knew should.

Well, we can stop and say that it is just too hard, or we can declare that all things are possible with God! Since Jesus always pleased God, it would be safe to assume that He passed the test of the law of love. Jesus not only lived a sinless life, He also managed to live a life that never walked out of the path of love. We know that He said some pretty strong things from time to time, and yet all of those things passed the love test. Still, our goal should not be to figure out how close we can get to the edge of not loving without falling over, it should be to see how close we can stay to the Rock of our salvation in perfect love. God will never be upset with us for loving too much!

We can trust the Lord to let us know when we are close to the edge as well as when we drop over the cliff. The key to recovery is going to be in how determined we are to get back into love and stay there. God created us to love, but the truth is that we have a tendency to be more concerned about how we feel than how others feel. Only by the power of God in us are we able to prefer others in love. And it is that kind of love that truly sets us free.

When we can love as Ruth loved and put another’s needs ahead of our own. When we can be like Esther who risked her life for her people. When we can have the love that Jesus had for us, and when we can lay down our lives, our needs, our preferences for the sake of another. Then we are walking in the law of love and experiencing liberty.

God knows the motive behind all that we do and say. He knows we are weak and selfish. He knows how we struggle with our flesh. This is why He tells us to walk in the Spirit. This is why the eyes of our understanding must be opened, so that we can know the greatness of God’s love for us. Then we must allow that same love to dwell in us and flow out of us. Just like everything with God, it is a greater blessing to give love than it is to receive it. Of course when we freely give, we can be sure we will continue to freely receive from God and from others.

There was a time in my life when I did not freely give love, for fear of being hurt. Like many people, I built walls of protection that only ended up hurting me as well as those around me. But when Christ changed my life, I was set free to love as well as to truly receive love. May our loving God enable us all to be more loving.