“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God. I, too, try to please everyone in everything I do. I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others. and you should imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” (1 Corinthians 10:31-33 NLT)
Love isn’t simply an emotion, a certain way we feel about something or someone, it is an attitude of the heart that informs, motivates, and is the basis for everything we think or do. Paul wrote at the end of the “love” chapter, 1 Corinthians 13:11ff: “When I was a child, I spoke and thought and reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish things. Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.”
Love for Jesus expands our horizons, grows our heart and mind, gives substance to our existence, and a sound basis for our life. Jesus isn’t “part” of our life, an add on to help us out or a crutch upon which we can lean, He IS our life and every detail of our being should flow through the reality of that relationship.
Why does He allow our eyes to open each new day? So, we can go to work? Raise a family? Pursue the pleasures of our own measly existence? If that’s all there is let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die! What’s the point? But there’s more! So much more! And it all grows out of love.
“We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19). Everything we’ll ever need to know about what love is and how to do it is found in intimacy with Jesus. He IS love, the embodiment of what love is and what love does. That’s why Paul said we must imitate Christ. But how? What might that look like?
His whole life’s orientation was devotion to His heavenly Father. Everything He thought, did, or said flowed out of a heart fully committed to carrying out His Father’s will. That begins with a decision to trust that who Jesus is and what He said was and is true. That should lead to entrusting your heart and life to Him without reservation.
The truth is, when we yield our life and allegiance to Jesus our life is no longer our own. It’s His to do with as He pleases. When He fills us with His Spirit (His presence) He empowers us to live life in accordance with His will and desire. It takes time and determination to learn how to do that, but He will guide us every step.
It begins with our desire, from the moment we awaken to the last second before we go back to sleep, to consciously be aware that I am not my own, I was bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20)! Love His Word, saturate your soul with His words from Scripture; let your heart and mind be attentive and alert to His voice, His instructions, His warnings, His whispers of encouragement.
Yes, of course, our lives are filled with busyness and work and responsibilities, but if any of that is done without the voice of Jesus guiding us, it’s all for naught. It’s pointless and powerless without the underlying and undergirding love of God motivating, guiding, empowering, and enabling us to do it all to His glory, honor, and fame. He IS our life, so, if it’s not done with and for Him, why do it?
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 
true
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