Deuteronomy 6:5
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
We are taught to love from the time we are little. We are taught to love our neighbors as ourselves.We teach our children to love their siblings, their parents and especially Jesus. What is love?
It is a tender emotion. I remember my first date with My Brian~ talk about love at first sight. I remember when we welcomed each of our babies into the world~ whew~ talk about falling in love. Oh my stars~ when the grandbabies came along the love shot to the moon and back.
As much as I love the people in my life~ at times I don't like them. Come on now I know you know what I mean. When they hurt my feelings or are mean and snarly with me~ they are hard to like but I love them in spite of it all. I hope they love me when I am mean and snarly too.
Certain days I don't feel like spreading the love around. Feelings can't be commanded~ can they?
That's when love must go beyond liking! So love must be more than just an emotion or feeling. I must keep loving even when I don't like. I think that's why so many marriages end in divorce. They confuse emotion with real love~ which is a choice! It is a commitment.
This verse below may help us understand the Lord's command~ "Thou shalt love....." That in fact~ love is an action that we choose. It is choosing to be patient, kind, selfless and humble.
1 Corinthians 13:4-5
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
We can love others even when we don't like them~it is a matter of making a choice. That is why the Lord has given us the Holy Spirit to empower us to live a life that is obedient to God. With His help~ we can learn to love those we don't like. Who knows~ we may even begin to like them.
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