Faith Works part 4
Loving people is a lot of work. There, I said it. But now let me explain what I mean. Loving people ISN'T hard. Because loving people is the natural effect of what's inside us coming out. Love is our new (true) nature. What I mean is... people give love in lots of different ways. And, equally if not more importantly, people receive love in lots of different ways. For example (and you know I'm using myself as an example), I love chocolate. So if someone gives me chocolate... I feel pretty good about that. But there are people out there who don't like chocolate (shocking, I know). So giving them the same kind of love that you give me won't work. You have to put in the effort to get to know people. To build relationships. But, as always, it all starts with our relationship with God. Look at 2 Peter 1:3 in the Message Bible, "Everyting that goes into a life of pleasing God has been miraculously given to us by getting to know, personally and intimately, the One who invited us to God. The best invitation we ever received!" Everything we need... we already have. And we "get," or experience, what we already have by finding out what we already have. By getting to know Jesus. Because Jesus is our true self. The inner man. The hidden man of the heart. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. When we get to know God, we get to know ourselves. When we get to know Him as loving heavenly Father, we get to know ourselves as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. And when we know ourselves... we can begin to know each other. Know as we are known. Know each other in love. Know HOW to love each other. That's what a real, true relationship is all about. Its not about getting from others. Or, worse yet, taking from each other. Its about giving to each other. Seeing a need and meeting it. And, like the chocolate I mentioned earlier, when we understand each other we can go past just meeting needs and we can fill some wants. Now, obviously, needs are more important than wants. But when you start to get deep with someone, that's when you can really make an impact. Knowing what will really bring a smile to their face. Knowing someone personally and intimately. But, like I said to open this bad boy, that can take a lot of work. You have to be willing to put the effort in. And I'm not talking about works and labor. I'm not talking about trying to earn anything from God (or anybody else). I'm simply talking about how love IS the maximum effort. Its giving everything you have and everything you are. Giving your all. Putting in that effort to get to know someone. So that you CAN see a need and so that you CAN meet that need. Faith works when you do. When you act in love. You can't walk by faith unless you're walking. Charity is love in action. And the action of love is only effective when you know who you're loving. When you know how they need to be loved. Its a lot of work. Yes. But its worth it. PEOPLE are worth it. Loving people is worth it!