Love.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
~John 10:10~
Lately I've felt lost in a sea of useless information. I've felt dissatisfied with answers, answers to the one of the biggest questions we ask as humans: What matters? What should matter to me? What will bring me happiness?
I want to find ultimate happiness, that elusive thing called joy...but deeper than that.
Abundant Life.
Yes, I want abundant life, the kind Jesus promised.
But I've been so dissatisfied with everything. Dissatisfaction consumes me and dulls my ear, dulls His voice. So it is with an acme anvil that God answers my question. And not just one answer, the answer.
Only two commandments.
It occurs to me that my thirst for full life has been focused on inanimate objects, as in "not alive". Joy has been elusive because I have been looking in all the wrong places. Objects that seem to promise satisfaction but cannot, because ultimately at the end of all things, they will wilt away. They are not permanent.
But God is. And People are.
It occurs to me slowly that the only two permanent things that will make it from this world to the next, are the Creator, and the created. And so I realize that my treasures, the ones Jesus tells us to store up in Heaven have to be people. People!
And I whirl around as the faces of those I love spin in my minds eye. All around, people, amazing people! People to love, and hold, and laugh, and cry with. People who have lifted me up and given me the honor of returning the favor. People who have believed in me when I did not even believe in myself. People.
Yes, I want abundant life, the kind Jesus promised.
But I've been so dissatisfied with everything. Dissatisfaction consumes me and dulls my ear, dulls His voice. So it is with an acme anvil that God answers my question. And not just one answer, the answer.
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”Love God. Love Others.
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:36-40
Only two commandments.
It occurs to me that my thirst for full life has been focused on inanimate objects, as in "not alive". Joy has been elusive because I have been looking in all the wrong places. Objects that seem to promise satisfaction but cannot, because ultimately at the end of all things, they will wilt away. They are not permanent.
But God is. And People are.
It occurs to me slowly that the only two permanent things that will make it from this world to the next, are the Creator, and the created. And so I realize that my treasures, the ones Jesus tells us to store up in Heaven have to be people. People!
And I whirl around as the faces of those I love spin in my minds eye. All around, people, amazing people! People to love, and hold, and laugh, and cry with. People who have lifted me up and given me the honor of returning the favor. People who have believed in me when I did not even believe in myself. People.
And God. God who made people, who made me. Who made everything I see. Who loves me and others with an everlasting love. The God-man, Jesus, who was tortured, ridiculed, and died so that I could talk to the Father once more. Who conquered death so I could too.
And I realize, ashamed, that I have not always loved His people.
And I realize, ashamed, that I have not always loved His people.
I've viewed them as avenues to get somewhere, to get something. I have pitied them and sympathized, but I have not loved with all I am. I have not loved them well. But Jesus only gave us two things to do while here....the most important things anyone can do while living in a foreign world that is so far from Edenic.
Today I make a decision, a simple choice. Love. It's always a choice--we always have a choice.
My treasures now, they will be people.
Today I make a decision, a simple choice. Love. It's always a choice--we always have a choice.
My treasures now, they will be people.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35Out of love for the Father will flow a love for those He loves. And my heart, it suddenly feels oddly lighter, easier, happier. Why?
Because by accepting this truth, I'm letting lies go. Lies about what I'm responsible for. Lies about what brings happiness.
I'm empting my hands of all false pursuits to receive a gift, a revelation that's lighter than the weight I bore before.
Could the answer to the abundant life be that simple? Yes, I think it is. The answer my friends, is love.
I'm empting my hands of all false pursuits to receive a gift, a revelation that's lighter than the weight I bore before.
Could the answer to the abundant life be that simple? Yes, I think it is. The answer my friends, is love.
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
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