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10: Remember What Love Looks Like

We are using these days before Christmas to remember and share what God’s love looks like. After all, as Christians, we are empowered by the Holy Spirit to share God’s love so we can trust that doing so is powerful.

Galatians 5:22-23 reminds us what it looks like when we give ourselves over to the Spirit within us.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Today is day 10 in our countdown to Christmas day, when we will focus on one thing, loving and praising our Savior Jesus Christ. So today, let’s be inspired by the number 10 and ask God to empower us with the Holy Spirit so we remember what love looks. Let’s be intentionally loving at least 10 times today.

To get us started, here are some ways we can love the Lord by loving others and ourselves. Maybe they’ll help you let the Holy Spirit work through you today.

  • Being compassionate instead of judging
  • Choosing tenderness when we might be harsh
  • Sharing hope when someone is discouraged
  • Choosing gratitude in the face of disappointment
  • Trusting when inclined to doubt
  • Being patient when you start to feel angry
  • Seeking joy when feeling sorrow
  • Receiving peace from the Lord and rejecting anxiety
  • Doing something kind for someone who might not “deserve” it
  • Letting God help you with self-control

One final note, remember today just how powerful God is. Then, remember that HE IS IN YOU. You’re powerful because God is powerful.

A quick prayer in the face of challenge; asking God to handle whatever it is – to give you His patience, His strength, His self-control – is perhaps the most loving thing you’ll ever do.

May the peace of the Lord be with you, always!

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11: Share love deliberately

We are using these days before Christmas to lean into the Lord and let him light us up with love for others…so much so that even those who don’t know the Lord, will know something different in us because as Christians, we are different. Isaiah 61:1 reminded me just how we are empowered to love.

“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; He as sent me to bring glad tidings to the lowly, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release the prisoners.”

Today is day 11 so let’s make a point to be fruitful lovers of the Lord by sharing love deliberately at least 11 times. Need ideas for today?

Here are 11 ideas to get you started.

  • Let someone ahead of you in line at the supermarket.
  • Visit or call someone who is sick or homebound.
  • Smile to a stranger.
  • Do something for a loved one that you don’t want to do – and do it happily.
  • Give the other guy the parking spot.
  • Put money in the Salvation Army bucket.
  • Make a lunch date with an old friend.
  • Send a message of encouragement.
  • Find a cause you believe in and spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, etc.
  • Tell someone they are doing a good job.
  • Pray for a friend in need.
Enjoy sharing the love and may the peace of the Lord be with you always!

 

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12 Days of Fruitful Love – Let’s Do This!

In just a few days the Christian world will slow down…stop even…and celebrate the birth of our savior. If you’re not done with your Christmas shopping and other preparations, don’t freak out. Take a deep breath. It will all get done and what doesn’t get done probably doesn’t actually need doing. Don’t worry about it.

Instead, consider setting your mind on something higher. I have an idea.

It came to me yesterday as I was reading. I came across a familiar verse that struck me differently than it has before. Psalm 1:3 reads:

“They are like a tree planted near streams of water that yields its fruit in season. Its leaves never wither; whatever they do prospers.”

Two questions:

1. Who are”They?”

2. What is their fruit?

To answer the first question we have to go back a verse or two to learn that they are

“those who do not follow the counsel of the wicked, nor go the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers. Rather, the law of the Lord is their joy.”

They, it would seem,  are God loving, God fearing human beings. People who desire to understand and live God’s law. If you’re reading this blog, you’re quite likely one of them. We are “They.”

So, what is our fruit?

In 1 John 3:1, we are reminded that the world doesn’t know us. The world doesn’t recognize Christians.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.”

But is that all? Do we just leave it at that and let ourselves off the hook? After all, the world doesn’t know us as Christians because they don’t know the Lord. That’s between them and God.

“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?”

The way I read it, 1 Corinthians 1:16 makes it clear. We are not off the hook. Yes, it is true that many people don’t recognize us as Christians because they do not know the Lord. I believe it is equally true that we can choose to put aside our judgmental, self-righteous,  fearful selves and let the Spirit shine within us. And when we do, we become the walking, talking embodiment of God’s love.

That’s our fruit!

So here’s my idea. Let’s use these next 12 days to lean into the Lord and let him light us up with love for others…so much so that even those who don’t know the Lord, will know something different in us.

Today is day 12. We’ll start here and count down, each day making a point to be fruitful lovers of the Lord through 12, then 11 then 10 loving acts, and so on, until, finally, on Christmas day we focus on one loving act for the one and only Jesus Christ our Savior.

You can always do more…but let’s face it, things get busy the closer we get to the big day, so counting down may work out nicely. And remember, a loving act can be as simple as a smile to a stranger or as big as paying someone’s bill. No matter how small or big, if we let God lead, this good is sure to prosper.

I’m going to give it a try. I hope you’ll join me.

Today, 12 acts of love.

Go!