God loves us unconditionally and we should love others unconditionally. “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.” - Luke 6:27-28...Today's blog entry deals with Unconditional Love.
Before I go to far into this subject I want to make it clear that I'm not advocating that a person stays in an abusive relationship, or stays in a situation where another person repetitively hurts them (physically or emotionally). I also want to make it clear that a person who dies without receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. I make these points because I don't want people to take what I'm saying about love out of context. God loves us, and He made a way for us to avoid eternal torment and spend eternity with Him (By Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins). However, if a person rejects Jesus and dies, they will not spend Eternity with God (even though God loves them).
With that being said, as Christians, it's important for us to love others. We may get along better with certain personality types, but we should love a person regardless of how well our personalities click with them. Sometimes God may allow a certain type of person to be involved in your life to help you and the other person grow. For example, say you have two people who are students and have been assigned to work on a class project together (I'll refer to them as student A and student B....Both students are Christians). Student A is a person that is always on time for things in their life in general, and gets extremely irritated when people are late. Student B is a person that is often late for things in their life in general. Both students are nice people, and get good grades. During the first scheduled meeting to work on the project, Student A is on time and Student B is about 10-15 minutes late (which really irritates Student A). This continues to happen in future meetings. Student A feels like going off (they normally would have) but since this is a class project, they try to keep their cool. During the next meeting Student A finally says something (in a nice tone). “I noticed you've been about 10-15 minutes late to these meetings, could please try to get here on time in the future?” Student B apologizes, and says “I'm going to try to do better”. Student B then arrives at the next meeting about 7 minutes late and apologizes. The meeting after that, Student B arrives about 2 minutes late. And then every meeting after that Student B arrives about 5 minutes EARLY. Throughout the entire process Student A felt like criticizing student B, but didn't. And when Student B arrived early, Student A was shocked and learned the importance of being patient with people.
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” - 1 Corinthians 13:4
"For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same". - Luke 6:32-33
You may encounter some people who test your patience, but don't give up on a person that God has placed in your life. They may not be as strong as you in some in areas, they may have some maturing to do, but don't write them off. Remember where God has brought you from, and the growth process that you went through (and are constantly going through). Also, if you have a person that has abused you in the past, it's important that you forgive that person. By forgiving that person, I don't mean that you go back to that situation. But rather that you let go of any bitterness that you have towards the person. Remember that God forgave us, so we should forgive others. It's not good to carry bitterness from a past relationship in to a future relationship. So as we live our lives, let us strive to grow in our ability to love others.
"Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins." - Proverbs 10:12
"And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." - 1 Peter 4:8
Before I go to far into this subject I want to make it clear that I'm not advocating that a person stays in an abusive relationship, or stays in a situation where another person repetitively hurts them (physically or emotionally). I also want to make it clear that a person who dies without receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. I make these points because I don't want people to take what I'm saying about love out of context. God loves us, and He made a way for us to avoid eternal torment and spend eternity with Him (By Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins). However, if a person rejects Jesus and dies, they will not spend Eternity with God (even though God loves them).
With that being said, as Christians, it's important for us to love others. We may get along better with certain personality types, but we should love a person regardless of how well our personalities click with them. Sometimes God may allow a certain type of person to be involved in your life to help you and the other person grow. For example, say you have two people who are students and have been assigned to work on a class project together (I'll refer to them as student A and student B....Both students are Christians). Student A is a person that is always on time for things in their life in general, and gets extremely irritated when people are late. Student B is a person that is often late for things in their life in general. Both students are nice people, and get good grades. During the first scheduled meeting to work on the project, Student A is on time and Student B is about 10-15 minutes late (which really irritates Student A). This continues to happen in future meetings. Student A feels like going off (they normally would have) but since this is a class project, they try to keep their cool. During the next meeting Student A finally says something (in a nice tone). “I noticed you've been about 10-15 minutes late to these meetings, could please try to get here on time in the future?” Student B apologizes, and says “I'm going to try to do better”. Student B then arrives at the next meeting about 7 minutes late and apologizes. The meeting after that, Student B arrives about 2 minutes late. And then every meeting after that Student B arrives about 5 minutes EARLY. Throughout the entire process Student A felt like criticizing student B, but didn't. And when Student B arrived early, Student A was shocked and learned the importance of being patient with people.
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” - 1 Corinthians 13:4
"For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same". - Luke 6:32-33
You may encounter some people who test your patience, but don't give up on a person that God has placed in your life. They may not be as strong as you in some in areas, they may have some maturing to do, but don't write them off. Remember where God has brought you from, and the growth process that you went through (and are constantly going through). Also, if you have a person that has abused you in the past, it's important that you forgive that person. By forgiving that person, I don't mean that you go back to that situation. But rather that you let go of any bitterness that you have towards the person. Remember that God forgave us, so we should forgive others. It's not good to carry bitterness from a past relationship in to a future relationship. So as we live our lives, let us strive to grow in our ability to love others.
"Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins." - Proverbs 10:12
"And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins." - 1 Peter 4:8