Every time we reach out to take revenge or gossip, we sow seeds that hurt ourselves. Because love is not in operation, faith is hindered.
Well, I don't know about you, but I have too much seed in the ground to be mad at somebody and lose my harvest! But I'm warning you, the more you learn about love, the more you'll be challenged in this area. I was challenged when I least expected it....
As I was preparing a series of teachings on love, my son and I went to a neighborhood sandwich shop. I told him, "Go ahead and order for me while I sit." But when I stood up to pay, the clerk looked at me and said, "Ooh, you're stuck up! The Bible said, thou shall not be stuck up!" I hadn't even said a thing to her! My study on love almost went out the window!
So we sat down and ate our sandwiches, but the clerk came out from behind the counter and said, "I want you to know there's going to be a bomb threat in about twenty-five minutes, so hurry up." And I'm thinking, Lord, is this a test? Then she came back and commanded, "You make sure you clean up! Don't you leave a mess here!" I knew I had to walk in love, but I thought, No more sandwich shop! It's time to go!
As we begin perfecting our love walk, Satan will use people we don't even know to drain our reserves in order to stop our faith from working. That's when we need to just get up and leave. Don't sit there and try to take it! The more we strive to walk in love, the more our love will be challenged in our relationships with everyone around us.
Are you guilty of making statements like these: "That person in the parking lot makes me sick!" or, "That person in the choir gets on my nerves!" If so, you need to improve your love walk. How we treat one another is extremely important to God.
When we obey God's commandment to love one another, it forces us to confront the sticky issues in our lives. We can no longer continue living with unforgiveness, strife, envy and jealousy, because if we say we love God yet have hatred toward our brothers in Christ, then we are liars.
Ask yourself, am I a Christian, or am I religious? You see, if you're religious, you'll be willing to help pass out food boxes and go soul-winning, but you probably won't be as willing to make the first steps toward loving your enemy. Religion often tries to get the attention of men to win the title of "Good Samaritan."
It doesn't mean a thing to come to church all the time if you're not willing to work out misunderstandings, mend broken relationships, and love even when it's difficult to do so. True Christianity is walking in love to the point that every time others are around us, they are somehow positively affected by our genuine love.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers