LOVE
IS A CHOICE
by Susan Slade
Paul
had encouraged Timothy to admonish some false teachers and guide them back to
toward the center of true faith. The
goal in mind is that they would pattern their walk after Jesus’ walk. Charity
or love in this context is the kind of love demonstrated by Jesus – a choice to
love a person regardless of how you feel toward him or her.
There
is a person in my own life right now who has greatly wronged me. The actions of
this person affect not only me, but my personal assistant as well. My natural instinct would be to throttle the
person, but Jesus said vengeance is His; and I must comply by trusting the
situation to Him. I must remember the
Lord, in due time, can and will do a much better job at disciplining this
person than I can. This does not mean we should let others steam-roll over us.
However, we should follow the procedures outlined in Matthew 18 of going to the
person first before involving others. The Lord has called me to be salt and
light in a dark and tasteless world.
Choosing to love unconditionally like Jesus is many times a moment by
moment choice. When I choose the path that Jesus requires, I am kept safe
within the boundaries of His love for me.
Each time I choose to take matters into my own hands, I suffer
unpleasant consequences.
Is
there someone in your life who has wronged you or is in some other way
difficult to love? Make sure you are
taking this person and the situation to the Lord in prayer with a pure heart. The Lord will direct you and enable you to
love. Jesus is the only reason we have
the capacity to love, especially when it comes to loving the unlovely.
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