Monday, August 27, 2012

Put on Love



Pinned Image
 
 
So, chosen by God for this new life of love,
dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you:
compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline.
And regardless of what else you put on, wear love.
It's your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.

Colossians 3:12&14
The Message
 
This weekend I read a devotional by Dr. David Jeremiah about love,
the last part of 4 devotionals called Your Spiritual Wardrobe. Dr. Jeremiah wrote:
 
"Every experience in life is a love scene,
 and Christians are to love as Jesus loves."
 
A good word picture is to think of ourselves we dress each day as putting on love,
showing that we love others by our service and kindness to them. 
But it isn't always an easy task.
 
Things get in the way, like...
~ a neighbor who doesn't respect our privacy
~a teenager who sneers at us as we pass by
~ a spouse who is indifferent to our needs
~ a clerk who is unfriendly and rude
~ a child who is fussy and throwing a temper
 
These are just a few of the things that keep us from wanting to show love
or any of the other things mentioned in Colossians. But it is possible to do.
We can't do it under our own strength, but by the strength given to us by God.
 
 
I like what C.S. Lewis said about loving others:
“Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”
C.S. Lewis
 



4 comments:

NanaNor's said...

Dear Laurie, What a profound post-thank you for this dear one. As I read the list of those things that get in our way, I remembered a saying I heard years ago-when someone is unkind(or any other area), it is: For This We Have Jesus.
Blessings to you.
Noreen

Anonymous said...

good thoughts. :)

Debbie Petras said...

I love this and so believe it! If only we put on love the world might take notice and ...want what we have. And that is Jesus!

Blessings and love,
Debbie

Karen said...

Now I just love that graphic...and The Message version of this scripture really gets the "message" across!

I have been guilty of letting different things get in the way of loving others...

Such wise words in that quote by Lewis...