{love} on purpose

January 28, 2104

So, in my last post, several weeks ago, I promised to reveal my new

"Word of the Year".

{love}

Seems simple.

We all have the instinct to love.

I love my kids~ fiercely.

I love my husband~ passionately.

I love my parents, family, & friends~ faithfully.

But I don't always {love} well.

It's very easy to {love} my kids when they are being nice to each other.

How can I not {love} my husband when he pays me a much needed compliment?

I {love} the lovable.

It's in the shadows of a cranky mood or selfish intentions

that I am challenged and tested to push through in {love}.

I want to begin to {love} on purpose.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." Mark 12:30-31

We are COMMANDED to {love}.

To {love} God. To {love} everyone else. To {love} ourselves.

Not just a little.

We are to {love} with ALL that we are and ALL that we have.

No other commandment is greater!

How do I {love} God?

Sometimes it's like a comfortable relationship; the {love} is always there,

but the passion may be on simmer.

Other times I feel like I can't even come up with the words to express how intense my feelings of {love} are for Him.

In reality, if I am to {love} on purpose, it must start with my {love} affair with Jesus.

He is the only example of true, real, pure {love}.

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." 

Romans 5:8

"Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends." 

John 15:13

"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit." 

1Peter 3:18

The Bible is full of examples of how Jesus loved those that were deemed unlovable.

He lived {love} on purpose!

That's what I want.

I want it to flow through me, naturally.

I am so not there. 

It's actually scary to think that this is how I am going to focus myself this year.

I cannot do this on my own will power.

I must rely on the strength that comes from Christ alone.