A good friend which I have not seen for over 4 years e mailed me today with this bundle of joy that is below. In making an effort to simplify I notice that it is a discipline. Something I have to develop which will one day become natural instinct..loving others as I am loved. So to make life and loving more uncomplicated I must first understand the complexity of it. WHOA! Complicated. And everything in me wants to buck it. However, this message trumps my nature.
While reading the following, disect the phrases. There are SO many things to consider here..most of which we are unabashedly loved undeservedly. Take a tidbit and savor it: (thank you E. Jean!)
"The Holy Spirit reveals that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now, He says to me, show the same love to others-- 'love as i have loved you.' 'I will bring any number of people about you whom you cannot respect, and you must exhibit My love to them as I have exhibited it to you.'"
"The knowledge that God has loved me to the uttermost will send me forth into the world to love in the same way. God's love to me is inexhaustible, and I must love others from the bedrock of God's love to me...Am I prepared to be so identified with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness are being poured out all the time? Neither natural love nor Divine love will remain unless it is cultivated. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained by discipline."
-Oswald Chambers-