“You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.”
Revelation 2:4-5 (ESV) Love is an action, not just an emotion. Love is something you do. It’s easy to love somebody who loves you, isn’t it? It takes nothing at all. But real love acts and does the loving thing when people don’t deserve it, when they don’t respond to it, or when you don’t feel it. In fact, acting in love when you don’t feel it is the highest form of love. It’s a more mature love when you act loving toward a person who does not respond the same way. Have you noticed that it’s easier to act your way into a feeling than it is to feel your way into an action? Some of you have been married for a long time, and the truth is, the flame has gone out. The thrill is gone. You’re living separate lives in the same house. How do you rekindle that romance? How do you rekindle the feeling of love? You act your way into a feeling. You may say, “I don’t feel like acting loving toward my spouse.” So what? If you start acting in love, I guarantee you the feelings will follow—because feelings follow behavior. In Revelation 2:4-5, Jesus says to the church, “You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first” (ESV). What Jesus told the church is the same principle for renewing the love in a marriage or any other relationship. You remember, you repent, and you do the things you did at first. The reason the love went away is you stopped doing the things that created the love in the early days. God doesn’t want you living by your feelings. He wants you living by faith. So you know what he does? Sometimes he lets the feelings go away. Then you have to live by faith and love by faith. When you love somebody and do the loving thing, even when they’re not responding and even maybe when they’re retaliating, you are loving by faith. That is an action.
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“You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him.”
Deuteronomy 30:20 (NLT) The Bible teaches this about love: Love is a choice and a commitment. You choose to love—and you choose not to love. Today we’ve bought into this myth that love is uncontrollable, that it just kind of happens to you. In fact, even the language we use implies that we can’t control how we love. We say, “I fell in love”—like it was a ditch! “I was just walking along one day and—bam!—I fell in love. I just couldn’t help myself.” But is that really love? No, what someone really means when they say they “fell in love” is that they were attracted to someone. Attraction and arousal are uncontrollable—no doubt about it. But attraction and arousal are not love. They can lead to love, but they are not love. Love is a choice. During a wedding ceremony, a man and a woman stand before each other and say their vows. They say to the other person, “I choose you above everybody else in the world, and I choose you for the rest of my life.” They make a public statement of their choice—that’s a commitment. You can’t force somebody to fall in love with you, and you can’t force him or her to stay in love with you. Why? Because love is a choice. Love cannot be forced. This is true of all relationships, including your relationship with God. Deuteronomy 30:20 says, “You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him” (NLT). Just like in any other relationship, you must choose to love God. God isn’t going to force you to love him. You can thumb your nose at God and go a totally different way. You can destroy your life if you want to. God won’t force you to love him—because love can’t be forced. Love is a choice. In what relationships do you need to choose love today? “We love because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19 (NIV) God is always first in everything. He takes the initiative. The only reason you can love God or anybody else is because God first loved you. The Bible says in 1 John 4:19, “We love because [God] first loved us” (NIV). God has shown us his love in so many ways. He showed his love by sending Jesus Christ to Earth to die for you. He showed his love by creating you. He showed his love by giving you everything you have in life. We love because God first loved us. If you want to learn how to love other people, you’ve got to first understand and feel how much God loves you. When you feel his unconditional love, you’re going to start cutting people a lot more slack. You’re not going to be as angry as you’ve been in the past. You’re going to be more patient. You’re going to be more forgiving. You’re going to be more merciful. You’re going to show other people grace. The reason why you see people who are judgmental, sarcastic, angry, self-righteous, and always putting other people down is because they don’t really grasp how much God loves them. And that usually means they don’t feel good about themselves because they don’t feel loved or forgiven. They haven’t fully understood God’s grace, and so they feel guilty and bad about themselves. And if they feel bad about themselves, they certainly don’t want you feeling good about yourself. Maybe you’re one of those people. Maybe you’ve been hurt by parents or peers or partners. Maybe you’ve been abused, misused, rejected, abandoned, or betrayed. You’ve got some scars on your heart. Here’s the truth: You cannot give to others what you have not received yourself. Unlovely people are unloved people. Hurt people hurt people. If you’re filled with anger and impatience and you don’t feel loved, guess what? You won’t be able to love anybody else. You have to learn how much God loves you and let it heal your heart so his love can flow through you. It is impossible to love others until you really feel loved yourself. The Bible says, “We know and rely on the love God has for us” (1 John 4:16 NIV). Do you know the love of God? Do you rely on the love God has for you? You will have an easier time loving other people when you have God’s love flowing through you. “God makes everything happen at the right time. Yet none of us can ever fully understand all he has done.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 (CEV) Have you ever been in a hurry when God wasn’t? It’s never easy to sit in God’s waiting room, where you’re waiting for something from God. Nothing we do will help the answer to our prayer come one second before God chooses to deliver it. Abraham understood this. God gave him an impossible dream—that he would father a nation. At 75 years old and childless, this seemed crazy. But God’s timing proved to be perfect, just like Solomon would write centuries later: “God makes everything happen at the right time. Yet none of us can ever fully understand all he has done” (Ecclesiastes 3:11 CEV). We can’t understand everything God is doing, but we can be confident that his timing is perfect. In fact, God always takes you through predictable stages of faith. Abraham went through these same six stages. Understanding them can help you trust God when you’re unsure how he is at work in your life. The Six Stages of Faith
Where are you in these six stages? God will take you through them over and over again in this life as he grows your faith. “There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake.”
Ecclesiastes 7:20 (GNT) In America, failure is almost the unpardonable sin. We idolize success. But that kind of pressure creates major stress on people. The fear of failure has many different faces. It can cause you to be indecisive, a workaholic, or a perfectionist who clings to safety. Because we’re afraid to fail, we shun all kinds of risks. For many of us, that fear of failure has an iron grip on our hearts. Even some of the best and brightest people in the world are the most impacted by a fear of failure. That’s why I urge you to internalize this one simple message: We’ve all made mistakes. It’s not just a “you problem”; it’s a human problem. The Bible says, “There is no one on earth who does what is right all the time and never makes a mistake” (Ecclesiastes 7:20 GNT). Not only have you made mistakes in the past, but you’ll also make more in the future. I guarantee it. Even playing it safe and refusing to take risks is a mistake. Some people ask all the time, “What if I fail?” You might ask them, “What do you mean if?” You’ve already failed many, many times in life. We all have. You’re a failure in some area of your life right now. And you’ll fail a lot more in the future. Even superstars stumble. The greatest professional basketball players only sink half their shots. The best professional baseball players will only get to base one out of every three at bats. Failure is normal. You’ll never overcome your fear of failure until you fully accept the reality that you’re not perfect. The Bible says there is only one failure you need to fear: “Be careful that no one fails to receive God’s grace” (Hebrews 12:15 NCV). You need grace. We all do! Only when we let go of the fear of failure will it release its maddening grip on our lives. Once that happens, we can fully accept God’s grace. “Jesus said, ‘No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God's kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day.’”
Luke 9:62 (MSG) In Mark 10, a huge crowd was following Jesus as he left Jericho. A man named Bartimaeus was blind and begging by the roadside. When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus was nearby, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47 NIV). When Bartimaeus had gotten up that morning, he had no idea that Jesus Christ was going to pass by him that day. He thought it was just another ordinary day: same place, same cry for help, same situation. But suddenly Jesus was there. Bartimaeus had no time to prepare or think through his response. It was just an opportunity that dropped in his lap. And he chose to seize the moment. He decided not to delay or procrastinate. He was going to do it—now. That’s the first key to a fresh start in your life too: Whatever you’re going to do, do it now. Don’t say, “Next year I’m going to make a fresh start” or “Next month I’m going to make some changes” or “Tomorrow I’m going to make that a priority.” It’s now or never. Seize the moment! Every day, we’re given opportunities for a fresh start, but we don’t take advantage of them. Why? We procrastinate. Procrastination is a strange phenomenon. You think it will make your life easier when it actually does just the opposite. It’s a stress generator! When you know the right thing to do, today is the time to do it. Don’t assume you can wait for tomorrow. The Bible warns over and over about presuming upon tomorrow. I’m not guaranteed a tomorrow, and neither are you. Jesus said, “No procrastination. No backward looks. You can’t put God’s kingdom off till tomorrow. Seize the day” (Luke 9:62 MSG). You have no guarantee that you will live tomorrow. Whatever you’re going to do, you better do it now. Is Jesus inviting you into a fresh start today? Don’t delay. Follow the example of Bartimaeus and seize the moment. “Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’”
Mark 10:48 (GNT) If you’re going to make a fresh start with faith in your life, you need to face your fears. Don’t let them control you! Fear has an incredible ability to paralyze our potential—to keep us from launching out and having faith in our lives. When we choose fear over faith, it makes us skeptical—we’re afraid of trying anything new. It makes us selfish—we’re afraid to commit to God and to others. It makes us short-sighted—we focus on the past and not on the future. A man named Bartimaeus faced a fear that is familiar to many of us: the fear of rejection. He was blind and wanted to be healed. He knew that to shout out to Jesus over the crowd wasn’t the right thing to do. He knew that people would look down on him for it, but he was desperate. And he knew that Jesus Christ was the only one who could help him. So he got Jesus’ attention. The Bible says, “Many of the people scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me!’” (Mark 10:48 GNT). And look what happened: When he shouted out to Jesus, everyone around him told him, “Don’t do that. Be quiet. Don’t make a scene. Surely Jesus Christ isn’t interested in you. He has more important things to do.” The devil whispers things like that to a lot of us. When an opportunity for faith comes into our hearts, thoughts like, “God surely wouldn’t be interested in me” or “Don’t make a scene” or “What would people think of me?” keep us from having faith. When you see an opportunity to change, there are all kinds of shouts from inside and around you that tell you not to rock the boat. But God is asking you to do something greater than you’ve ever done before: He’s asking you to depend on him completely. Don’t you think that’s going to feel a little bit scary? Of course it is. When God asks something of you, you have a choice. Are you going to fall back on your fear and stay the way you are? Or are you going to tame your fear and step forward in faith? “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!”
2 Corinthians 4:16-17 (NLT) You are never a failure until you quit, and it’s always too soon to quit. God uses tough times to test your persistence. The difference between faithful people and unfaithful people is that unfaithful people give up at the first sign of difficulty. Faithful people keep on keeping on. Faithful people are determined. Faithful people are diligent. Faithful people are persistent. Faithful people don’t know how to quit. You know how a little acorn becomes an oak tree? An oak tree is just an acorn that refused to give up. If you’re going through tough times right now, then this verse is for you: “That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17 NLT). God is more interested in what you’re becoming than what’s happening to you. He often allows trials, troubles, tribulations, and problems in your life to teach you diligence, determination, and character. What about the problems you’re going through right now? They’re a test of your faithfulness. Will you continue to serve God even when life stinks? “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 NIV). “But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”
Deuteronomy 8:18 (NIV) The Bible teaches that God is the source of our finances. He is the one who provides for our needs. Deuteronomy 8:18 says, “But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today” (NIV). So what does that mean for your everyday life? It means that instead of looking to your employer for financial security, you look to God. It means that instead of looking to your savings account for financial security, you look to God. It means that you don’t look to anyone or anything other than God to provide for your needs. Here's a way to look at it: When you turn on the water, you know the water doesn’t actually come from the faucet. The water comes through the faucet. The water actually comes from a reservoir or a well, and the way you happen to receive it is through the faucet. In the same way, the income that God wants to give you may come through a job or through something or someone else. But the source is always God. You don’t need to worry about which faucet God uses to supply your needs. In a sense he says, “If I turn off one faucet, I can just as easily turn on another. If you lose one job, I can give you another. Your job isn’t your source. Your bank account isn’t your source. I am your source.” Worry reveals the places where we aren’t trusting God. Ask God to help you understand what causes you not to trust him, and then ask him to teach you to start trusting him. Look for how he does that. And when you start to worry, talk to God about your concerns. |
AuthorTaken from Daily Hope by Rick Warren. Categories
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