December 22

God expects us to love one another. Not merely profess love. Not just say that we love. Not simply give tokens of affection. God expects us to love. When we give love, we are giving that part of our self that holds The Lord within, for when we love truly, we are not really giving our self, we are sharing Christ.

I John 4:7 says, “Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and he who loves is of God and he who loves understands God.” Love is of God. Anything that is of God is first and foremost honorable and pure. There is no stain of ulterior motive or wrinkle of self interest involved when it’s truly God’s love.

Certainly, we may go through a lifetime of interacting with others under the guise of loving them—often we’re deluding not only them but ourselves as well. We make a pretense at love and we attain a sense of comfort within a relationship we deem to be a loving bond with another human being.

But if we’re honest with ourselves, willing to recognize the selfishness that underlies our love—I love because I need to feel needed; I love because I feel better about myself if I reach out to others—when we see the futility of our false love, we will then yearn to receive and give the real thing—and turn to Jesus!