Love one another

I think I'll take a break from my Top Ten Things and try to write something a little more meaningful. The subject that came to mind was about how God commands us to love, and how we lack so much in that area. The inspiration for the idea? A news article.

It was about an Autistic boy who was told to do the Ice Bucket Challenge by two boys he thought were his friends. The boy accepted the challenge, only to find too late that the other boys had filled the bucket with human waste.

God commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves, so that our joy may be full. There are many different ways to show love to someone. It is true that keeping God's Law towards someone is loving them, because we are not harming them. And people think "well I'm obeying God because I didn't kill, steal, or spread gossip etc." so I'm good.

But we need to pay attention to how we act towards people on a daily basis more than we do. We may not steal from someone, dump human waste on their head or murder them, but is there more we can do to show love? I think so.

When was the last time you told your spouse how much you appreciate everything that they do, that you love the fact they are your spouse?

When did you tell your children how much you love them, how much you appreciate everything that they do for you?

How about your Pastor? Have you thanked him for laboring faithfully for you, preparing sermons every week, visiting congregation members, and praying for you?

I could keep going, but I think you get my drift. If we are to love others as much as ourselves, we need to treat them how we would want them to treat us. Show the merciful, undying love God has shown to you, to others around you. There are endless ways to do it, you just need to think about them. It is easy to think about big things, but especially pay attention to the small things, the things we neglect. God notices small things too, and often uses them to show others himself through us.

"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise" ~Luke 6:31

"Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another."  ~1 John 4:11

"If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?" ~1 John 4:20

^"And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." ~ 1. Cor. 13:13