“Sometimes I hate me and that is why it is so amazing that Jesus still loves me!”  I guess when I really stop and think about it, I don’t hate myself so much, but I hate my ways, because even with the best of intentions, I still manage to really mess things up.  I know that I am supposed to love and that love begins with me, but sometimes it is really tough.

That love word get’s bounced around a lot.  Some people guard and are afraid to let the love flow, so rarely do they give or receive.  Some throw love out to everyone and everything, with very little thought.  They might say:  “I love you!” and in the next breath:  “I love pizza!”  So when we throw that love word out – what exactly does that mean?

The goal is to let love flow into, through and out of our lives.  Not just any love, but the real love of our Creator.  The Bible tells us that God is love.  When we receive Him, we receive love.  This love changes us from the inside out by enabling us to become all that we were created to become, according to His plans and desires.

The older I get, the more I realize that I need to get this love thing right.  It is very important and it matters more than most of us realize.  The older I get, the more I realize how wrong I’ve gotten it.  I thought I was loving.  I expressed my love, but a lot of times, sad to say, it probably was not a whole lot more than just words.  The older I get, the more I realize that the love talked about in the Scriptures is the real deal and I’ve got a lot of work to do to get it right.

The first part of the work I have to do is taking what love is, comparing it to what I have and figuring out the difference, so that I know what kind of work I need to do.  1 Corinthians 13:4-8 gives us a beautiful description of what love is:  “Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails…”

Wow!  We’ve got some work to do and when we do it, we are sure to live blessed!