'Do you know that when the Lord starts dealing with your inner self, it’s a series of amazement? And that above all His grace and love will be poured out constantly in our hearts for us to be able to go through the process of purification?'

Dear brothers and sisters,

Amazing grace!!! Do you know that when the Lord starts dealing with your inner self, it’s a series of amazement? And that above all His grace and love will be poured out constantly in our hearts for us to be able to go through the process of purification? Today, by God’s grace I have yet found another part of me being brought to light. How speechless and shocked I was! But Praise and Thanks be to the Lord! The good news is that he has come to save sinners, to set the captives free and to make the broken whole.

A blatant truth: I didn’t know what Christian love truly means. Love as Christian love!! Not as the world defines love. For months, I kept something in my mind, that my friendship with a dear sister had some conditions; as such there was fear in my heart that given if I don’t meet these conditions, I would surely lose that relationship. Do you know what I did? I openly voiced out my thought to that person and *boom*, the hurt was done. I felt victorious for a while for having been able to voice out something that I was keeping to myself for months. And there, I found myself, rejoicing to have hurt someone, some more in the early morning, and that person was not yet awake probably by the time I sent the message. I kept doing my stuff as if everything was usual during the day, but one message that my friend sent me where she reminds me to “Pray about it!” was always on my mind. So I went for a short prayer in my room and that was it, offering The Lord everyt! hing that was said and done, things that weren’t meant but were said and the regrets accompanied with it and also a petition for strength for the person who received the hurt.

In the afternoon, I was just walking around in the house and came to that book about what it meant to love others from the Heart, from Ken Wilson, which I borrowed from the library but that I have never spent time to read. Friends – do you know how The Lord is active in our lives? Do you know that we are walking in close proximity to a living God? The Lord, showed me how wrong I was in my thoughts about this sister, and also why I was wrong. Why? Because, I didn’t understand what loving as Jesus has called us to was all about. He taught me that love is unconditional. My prayer on Friday was a prayer of surrender to the Lord, when I just couldn’t continue to move on. That might be the weight of sin too; it hinders you from moving on! And yet one of his messengers said on that day “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepa#0099CC for those who love Him” – 1 Cor 2:9.

I quote: “The Christian who is eager to practice Christian love must know what he is aiming for. This is of special concern these days when there is so much confusion about the nature of Christian love. The question is not “Love – pros and cons” but rather “How should we understand and express love?” It is absolutely crucial to distinguish between the Christian conception of love and the ideas that most people have about love. Many people equate love with feeling, but that doesn’t mean that Christians ought to adopt this view. Very often popular notions about love will not coincide wit the Christian perspective. Today, Christians face the challenge of understanding what Christian love is and what it isn’t.

In the midst of the confusion, God has given us his word to rely on. Christian Love is service Love. John 13:1-5, where Jesus washed his disciple’s feet with the towel with which he was girded and he said:”If I then your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example that you also should do as I have done to you” – John 13:14-15. That sister of mine was serving the Lord and others with all her heart; of course the principle has very practical and costly applications one of which is Time. So, I was angry because this sister couldn’t find any time for me now. I was too blind to realize that I was selfish for we ought to use our time wisely contributing to bring forward his kingdom on Earth instead of anything else.

“We ought to be eager to serve others – even in menial, unpleasant ways. For us, service has been dignified by the example of Jesus. It is an important part of loving others. By nature Christian love is ready for self-denial, even the kind of self-sacrifice that Jesus performed by laying down his life. In fact, according to Jesus, love’s highest expression is the laying down of a man’s life for his friends. This ideal of self-sacrifice, expressed in everyday terms, meaning putting others first, placing our concern for others above our concern for ourselves. Gale Sayers book title “I Am Third” (God first, others second, myself third). I am not the center of all things. I am not even the center of my own life. God is. Apart from God, the principle of selfishness holds true for me – my behavior will be dominated by self-interest. But in the new creation things work differently. I draw my life from Jesus and his way of loving is not based on self! -interest. Rather than exalting the self, Christian love is patterned on the example of Jesus, who emptied himself. Jesus put others before himself and instructed his followers not only to receive the benefits of his self-sacrifice but to do likewise.”

“If asked what lies behind the love one has for a spouse, for family members, or for a close friend, many people would point to a feeling of sexual attraction or of personal affection and warmth. At first glance, this shouldn’t surprise us. The positive feelings that we sometimes call ‘Love’ are an important aspect of our close relationships. But Christian love, though it normally involves our feelings, is not based on feelings. Christian love is based on commitment. Our emotions don’t provide the most solid foundation on which to base our relationships.”

“But the scriptural view of the heart is not so lopsided. In addition to the feelings, the heart includes intelligent thought and decision. To love one another, as St Peter enjoins, “earnestly from the heart” means that we make a commitment to one another at the level of fundamental choice. It is a commitment that involves thought and decision, as well as feelings. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us.” Rom 5:5. When God pours his love into our hearts, he has chosen to influence us on a level deeper than the emotions. His influence reaches us at the most fundamental level. Because God has poured out his love into our hearts, we are free to make a decisive commitment to love. This love will normally involve feeling, but it will not depend on them. Commitment can lead where feelings won’t go. We can authentically, sincerely, honestly love someone from the heart! even on those occasions when our feelings don’t support our commitment to love.”

“Committed – not cold, Christian love is warm, personal, and affectionate. When we exercise Christian love, we are like the gardener who removes weeds, trims overgrowth, and plants and transplants according to his design for the garden. If we understand the nature of Christian love and our own human limitations, we will readily conclude: Christian love is impossible. In one sense that’s true. Any merely human effort to practice Christian love will inevitably fall short and will likely lead to exhaustion or a re-definition of Christian love that seems more manageable. But love with God’s Power. Love didn’t originate with us. We can’t manufacture it. It comes from God alone. It takes faith to love as Jesus taught us. But we can ask for God’s help and expect our prayers to be answered.”

Source – Ken Wilson (Decision to love, What it means to love others from the Heart)

This book contains good examples to illustrate where our human nature falls short in life and hence wronged us. Try to read this book you who are still trying to figure out how to love! “Love until it hurts” – Mother Theresa – (and even after the hurt continue to love unconditionally) that’s the beauty of it all!

Humbly now I know that love, friendship and relationships have another dimension when The Lord opens up our eyes and allows us to see what he sees. The Lord is a wonderful savior indeed; you just cannot run away from him however much you wanna hide yourself. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Psalm 139:7 – 9.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” – Psalm 139:23-24 After a while you will realize that it’s no longer you who is walking or doing things but that he is doing his work through you. We will never be ready to start serving Him even in the most insignificant ways, he will just use us even in our lowest state (when we are most trapped and locked in ourselves), in whatever state, the time has always been NOW. And one thing for sure, even then, he says: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28:20.

Ciao, Flo