Friday, April 27, 2018

 

Pop culture influences most people’s idea of love. People come to believe that love is a powerful emotion that sweeps a person off their feet. However, this pop cultural idea of love consists of unrealistic images and words created for entertainment purposes. When this unrealistic image of love does not work, we create a problem in that we set ourselves up for all kinds of negative emotions including depression.

 

In today’s culture, we tend to love those who love us or who are beneficial to us. Jesus on the other hand tells us that we are supposed to love others the way He has loved us. He tells us we are supposed to treat others the way He has treated us. Jesus goes so far as to tell us we are supposed to love those who mistreat us including our enemies. If we were honest with ourselves, we would admit that we prefer the pop culture idea of love better than our Heavenly Fathers idea of love. If we were to compare pop culture’s idea of love with Gods idea of love, we might conclude that pop culture’s idea is unrealistic and God’s is actually impossible.

 

As you read this, you might be thinking or asking yourself, God wants me to love those who do not love me? God wants me to love those who have mistreated me? You might also be thinking, that this concept does not seem fair. Perhaps you have concluded that while true, this is an impossible thing to do.

 

I can use guilt as a motivator to get you to love the way Jesus commands; I can tell you that God loved us when we didn’t love Him and shame you into loving like Jesus. I can tell you that God has never treated you the way that you have treated Him. I can even tell you that He loved you and placed His son Jesus on the cross when you were still his enemy. Truth be told, the kind of love that God requires of us is something that we are not capable of doing. The Good News however, is that God knows that this love goes beyond our abilities. Instead of excusing our inability to love, by the power of the Holy Spirit He grants us the gift of love.

 

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love… – Galatians 5:22 NIV

 

Notice the verse you just read, it says that the Holy Spirit produces this love in you. It may be unrealistic, supernatural love, but not impossible love. It is available to those who keep their lives plugged into the Holy Spirit by gathering to pray, seeking God, and by maintaining a personal relationship with Him. We are saved by this supernatural love of God. Through God’s supernatural power of love, men, and women have done impossible things. I remember some years ago reading about the vicious murder of Evangelist Yiye Avila’s daughter who was stabbed to death by her own husband. Pastor Avila, full of the Spirit of God, went to the jail to visit the man who had killed his daughter to offer him forgiveness. That is the power of love in action. We cannot produce this kind of love on our own, but the Holy Spirit can and will produce it in our lives when we are dedicated to seeking God.

 

Our ability to love the way Jesus commands us to, is not the result of our good intentions. True love results from the power of the Holy Spirit operating in and through the lives of those who remain plugged into God.

 

Heavenly Father is only through the power of the Holy Spirit that I can love others the way you have loved me, on my own it’s simply impossible. Help me to stay connected to you so that loving others the way you have loved me would become my way of living.