"Love One Another; as I Have Loved You!"

One of the main themes that the Lord seems to be repeating over and over in my life is the message of Love. Christ gave to us a new command after He died and rose again. We find this command in John 13:34, "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." It is something that is precious and everyone wants to feel and experience it. I must confess that recently, one of my friends who once was walking with the Lord returned. The Lord strongly convicted me (I'm glad to say immediately He convicted me) of my attitude towards her and expectations of her. You could say that they "stank". They were rude, recording of wrongs, not hopeful, etc...The Lord reminded me something that I heard all throughout my childhood and teenage years: God's heart is towards the backslider. This cause me to realize that my heart should also be towards the backslider. Now that does not mean that we should give them ministry and positions in the church immediately and act like nothing happened. Even King David had to reap from the sin that he sowed. However, we are not to continually remember or talk about the backsliders faults and sins. We should not talk of how much they missed and how they have wasted so many years because our God is more than able to restore those lost years. 

After I repented of my wrong thoughts and expectations towards this person I felt free to actually love them the way the Lord wants us to love our brethren. The last thing someone who has fallen and scrapped up their leg is for you to hit it our push them back down on it again. That is the same towards the backslidden. They are tender, still has hurt, burdens, bondages', etc and the last thing they need is for us (the church) to push them backwards. Love! It is one very small word and yet if we use it correctly, it holds great power.

What is love? I Corinthians 12:4-8a (NIV) tells us what love really is, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails..."

Moving down to verse 11 it says,"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me." Part of putting away childish things is by learning the importance of loving one another as Christ loved us. He accepted us with our imperfections. He does not want to stay that imperfect person, but He received us with open arms and was patient and kind. He was not rude, not self-seeking, not easily angered, not proud, but He was the opposite of those things, Love! We must learn to put aside, little by little and day by day, our childish opinions, thoughts, mentalities, beliefs, etc...We, believers, must realize that God's heart truly is towards the backsliders. 

Jesus loves them and He does not desire to see anyone perish, just as 2 Peter 3:9 (KJV) tells us, "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." We must be patient when we see someone come back to the Lord. Do not expect a quick change, but do not continually bring back up their faults and errors. We all have them and that is the last thing we need to remind someone of. Then in verse 13 of I Corinthians 12, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Love will look for the positive and the good in someone and will talk about it, nurture it, and help the person to grow stronger. Just as a mother looks at her child and talks about the positives, the child hears those words and is encouraged by those kind words and then wants to do more good. That is the same for the backslider; it is vital that we help them get back up, strengthen them, and bring them to the place where they are on stable ground once again. The best kind of teacher is one who raises up pupils who succeed higher then them self. We must help the backslider and not push them back into what the Lord has brought them out of (hurt, offense, weakness, etc). 

Love one another as Christ has loved you! If you cannot see the love that Christ has shown you and daily tries to show you, then cry out to Him and ask Him to open your eyes to what you cannot see. Do not believe that God does not love you because truly He does. He loves each and every one of us and if it were not so, then He would not of created us or given us a purpose/plan in life. Listen and learn to feel the love and compassion of our Father so that you can then go out and show that love to others. " What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy" (Rom. 9:14-16, ESV).

God bless!