Preemptive Strike part 5
When love is your battle plan, its ok to have a preemptive strike. Its ok to go on the offensive. Because love doesn't demand its own way. And love doesn't keep a record of rights and wrongs. Love is patient and kind. Killing them with kindness is ok. More than ok. Encouraged. Pile fiery coals on their heads--but understand that GOD is the consuming fire. LOVE is the consuming fire. You're not trying to harm anybody or burn anybody to the ground. Your trying to melt people's hearts. Show them a more excellent way. Break that cycle of bitterness, and hurt, and shame. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. Hurting people hurt people. But loved people love people. What comes out is what you believe is inside. What you believe dictates what actions you take. If you are so full of love that there's no room left for anything else, then that's what is going to come out first, last, and always. You won't have to wait until someone hurts you to "take the high road." You'll already (and always) BE on the high road. And if you mess up, if you give back to someone what they give you--the old "eye for an eye" adage--there's a voice behind you telling you "This is the way. Walk in it." And notice that the voice doesn't say, "walk it out." Because we are not supposed to do this in our own power. Jesus equipped and empowered us to do all of the things He did, and greater things than that. But He equipped and empowered us to live His life by GIVING us His life. By living His own abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life in us, and through us, and as us. Its not us trying to follow in Jesus' foot steps. Its Jesus making His own foot steps in our feet. Its God working in mysterious ways because He works through people. And people are messy. People rarely do what THEY want to do. Much less what YOU want them to do. People do things because they feel guilty. Or because they feel obligated. Or for money. Any number of reasons. And that's ok. Because you can't control anybody else. You can't make anybody do anything. But what you can do is launch a preemptive strike. What you can do is get your retaliation in first. Don't wait for someone to poke you in the eye. Hit them in the heart, right between the eyes, with a love so strong it lights them up and makes the darkness flee. I think the only time we really want to hold on to something negative is when we think something (even a bad thing) is better than nothing. But when we see a better option--sure, we might think its too good to be true but--we'll at least be interested. And I'm not saying the grass is ALWAYS greener on the other side. But I'm saying sometimes it is. You don't have to stay stuck. God allows U-turns. And, in fact, I think He encourages them. I think He's always ready, willing, and able to help us up when we fall down. To the point that He is the One who can (and will) keep us from falling. When we put our trust in Him. When we stop giving back what people give us and start giving people what GOD gave us. The gift of God. Eternal life. A life of living and loving. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. So if you want to truly start living... start loving. Don't wait for life to happen. Launch a preemptive strike!