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02-02-2008, 02:31 AM
What's Love Got To Do With It?
by Joyce Meyer
Christianity can be simple if we summarize it into one thing: Concentrate on loving God and loving people. Walking in love is not a suggestion from God but rather a commandment. Jesus said, I give you a new commandment: that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another (John 13:34).
Love Is Not Optional
First, we need to understand that our love walk is not optional; it is a commandment. And it’s a big one, not just something that God threw in the Bible several times. It is all over the Bible, especially in the New Testament. Over and over again, believers are being encouraged to abound in love, increase in love, and grow in love. It’s a topic that we never finish and one of my favorite subjects to teach on.
Learning to walk in love has drastically changed my life because it finally got my mind off of me and onto what I can do for someone else. No one will ever be happy as long as they are selfish. In Ephesians 5:2 it says that Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. This is an example we want to seek to follow—giving up ourselves for others.
It’s Going to Cost You
Secondly, you and I need to understand that walking in love and giving ourselves up are inseparable. We cannot walk in love and be selfish. It just isn’t possible! Living selfishly and being self-centered are some of the biggest problems people have because love always costs us something. That’s why most people don’t want to walk in love; we like stuff that’s free, but love requires effort. Every time we choose to love someone, it’s going to be an effort, and the flesh is naturally lazy—not much into making an effort. We want what’s easy and free.
I’ve tested this, too, just to see how people react. At a conference if I start giving away free stuff, there’s a stampede. I’ve tried giving away teaching series, but people get so wild that we can’t do it because they might hurt each other trying to get the free stuff. People will leave their seats and run down to the front in order to receive things. But on the other hand, I don’t see that happen during an offering. It’s amazing to me how people will listen politely about giving, but there’s certainly no mad dash to give.
Honestly, the flesh is more excited about getting something, especially something free, than about giving something. But we need to realize that love always costs us something. Whether it’s time, effort, money or energy, you and I just can’t love without it costing us something.
Do It on Purpose
One of the greatest things I’ve learned about love is that not only does it require effort, but we have to do it on purpose. If we don’t remember anything else, we need to remember that love is something we choose to do on purpose. We don’t wait for a feeling to motivate us because love is a behavior in which we choose to operate.
Walking in love requires taking steps—action. It’s significant that the Bible says to walk in love because a walk is made up of a lot of steps, and each step that we take is intentional, so no step is taken without our decision to take it. If you and I are going to have a love walk, then we are going to give love a place of importance and a place of priority in our “walk” with God. It’s going to take lots of decisions every day all day long, and most of them are going to involve how we treat people, because I believe that love really is all about how we treat people.
Walk in Love
In 1 John 4 it talks about love being perfected in us. There are steps to love. You cannot give away something you don’t have. So God willingly, unconditionally loves us first. This reveals to us that because God loved us first, He didn’t expect us to love someone else until He first loved us. By faith we can accept that God loves us and then begin to love ourselves in a balanced way.
Learning how to walk in love is probably the most important thing that we need to do. It’s more than just talk or patting each other on the back in church saying, “I love you with the love of the Lord.” There are many facets to love. Love is real and it can be seen and felt. Love meets needs. Love sacrifices. We need to learn to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to learn how to love. We don’t just become a Christian and all of a sudden start loving everyone. There are steps to take.
You can start by knowing that God loves you and then accepting His love. When you do, you begin to love God back, and then you begin to let that love flow through you to other people. Love is a cycle, and for that cycle to be complete, you need to go through all four of these steps:
Know God loves you
Accept His love for you
Love God back
Let His love flow through you to love people
For years I tried to love my husband, my kids, my neighbors, relatives, and even my enemies, but I didn’t know how to do it. I thought, What is wrong with me? I found out I didn’t like myself. So I had to spend a year receiving God’s love and getting that foundation inside of me. If you’ve been trying to love people on your own, let this be a revelation to you: You can’t do it on your own. Let God’s love flow through you because He has an unlimited source.
by Joyce Meyer
Christianity can be simple if we summarize it into one thing: Concentrate on loving God and loving people. Walking in love is not a suggestion from God but rather a commandment. Jesus said, I give you a new commandment: that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another (John 13:34).
Love Is Not Optional
First, we need to understand that our love walk is not optional; it is a commandment. And it’s a big one, not just something that God threw in the Bible several times. It is all over the Bible, especially in the New Testament. Over and over again, believers are being encouraged to abound in love, increase in love, and grow in love. It’s a topic that we never finish and one of my favorite subjects to teach on.
Learning to walk in love has drastically changed my life because it finally got my mind off of me and onto what I can do for someone else. No one will ever be happy as long as they are selfish. In Ephesians 5:2 it says that Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us. This is an example we want to seek to follow—giving up ourselves for others.
It’s Going to Cost You
Secondly, you and I need to understand that walking in love and giving ourselves up are inseparable. We cannot walk in love and be selfish. It just isn’t possible! Living selfishly and being self-centered are some of the biggest problems people have because love always costs us something. That’s why most people don’t want to walk in love; we like stuff that’s free, but love requires effort. Every time we choose to love someone, it’s going to be an effort, and the flesh is naturally lazy—not much into making an effort. We want what’s easy and free.
I’ve tested this, too, just to see how people react. At a conference if I start giving away free stuff, there’s a stampede. I’ve tried giving away teaching series, but people get so wild that we can’t do it because they might hurt each other trying to get the free stuff. People will leave their seats and run down to the front in order to receive things. But on the other hand, I don’t see that happen during an offering. It’s amazing to me how people will listen politely about giving, but there’s certainly no mad dash to give.
Honestly, the flesh is more excited about getting something, especially something free, than about giving something. But we need to realize that love always costs us something. Whether it’s time, effort, money or energy, you and I just can’t love without it costing us something.
Do It on Purpose
One of the greatest things I’ve learned about love is that not only does it require effort, but we have to do it on purpose. If we don’t remember anything else, we need to remember that love is something we choose to do on purpose. We don’t wait for a feeling to motivate us because love is a behavior in which we choose to operate.
Walking in love requires taking steps—action. It’s significant that the Bible says to walk in love because a walk is made up of a lot of steps, and each step that we take is intentional, so no step is taken without our decision to take it. If you and I are going to have a love walk, then we are going to give love a place of importance and a place of priority in our “walk” with God. It’s going to take lots of decisions every day all day long, and most of them are going to involve how we treat people, because I believe that love really is all about how we treat people.
Walk in Love
In 1 John 4 it talks about love being perfected in us. There are steps to love. You cannot give away something you don’t have. So God willingly, unconditionally loves us first. This reveals to us that because God loved us first, He didn’t expect us to love someone else until He first loved us. By faith we can accept that God loves us and then begin to love ourselves in a balanced way.
Learning how to walk in love is probably the most important thing that we need to do. It’s more than just talk or patting each other on the back in church saying, “I love you with the love of the Lord.” There are many facets to love. Love is real and it can be seen and felt. Love meets needs. Love sacrifices. We need to learn to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit to learn how to love. We don’t just become a Christian and all of a sudden start loving everyone. There are steps to take.
You can start by knowing that God loves you and then accepting His love. When you do, you begin to love God back, and then you begin to let that love flow through you to other people. Love is a cycle, and for that cycle to be complete, you need to go through all four of these steps:
Know God loves you
Accept His love for you
Love God back
Let His love flow through you to love people
For years I tried to love my husband, my kids, my neighbors, relatives, and even my enemies, but I didn’t know how to do it. I thought, What is wrong with me? I found out I didn’t like myself. So I had to spend a year receiving God’s love and getting that foundation inside of me. If you’ve been trying to love people on your own, let this be a revelation to you: You can’t do it on your own. Let God’s love flow through you because He has an unlimited source.