I'm back!!

Oh my! Has it really been that long since I've posted last??? Goodness me.

Well, I am working on getting my act together (anyone else in the boat with me?). Meanwhile the Lord and I have been working on the concept of loving the brethren. Not that I haven't loved them at all but expanding my ability (and understanding) to love them in the way He wants me to... especially the difficult ones. Now there's where the lesson comes in.

My girls and I have been doing an in depth study of I John which covers the concept of agape love quite deeply. Basically those who say they love God but don't love their brethren are liars (I Jn 4:20)... ouch. God commands that we love one another.

As I have been studying this I looked up LOVE in Vine's Expository Dictionary. Here is what it said for agape:

"Christian love has God for it's primary object, and expresses itself first of all in implicit obedience to His commandments.

"Christian love, whether exercised toward the brethren, or toward men generally, is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations, nor does it spend itself only upon those for whom some affinity is discovered. Love seeks the welfare of all and works no ill to any; love seeks opportunity to do good to 'all men, and especially toward them that are of the household of the faith,' Gal. 6:10"

The best picture of this love is the sacrifice God made when He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross for my sins while I was yet a sinner. God loves me in spite of my unworthiness.

Agape loves expresses itself by doing what is best for the receiver regardless of what they want. It is sacrificial, unconditional, unselfish and requires no return. It is a love that I cannot begin to express outside of the power of Christ in me as I abide in the Word of God and press in to God daily.

Honestly I fall so short especially when I get too busy to abide in His word, when I have disconnected from the lifeline. How about you? Are you plugged in and loving as God would have you love? Praise be to God for His mercies are new every morning... let's make today a day of living in the light of God's love by loving others.