“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:13
Dear Jesus, You created me to be like You and I want to love just like You. My whole purpose in this life is to be a reflection of Your love.
There are so many ways to show love to other people. Writing is one of the ways I was created to show Your love. I confess that even though it’s not very difficult for me to write, it feels hard for me to put my thoughts out there for others to hear.
The reality I need to accept is that loving is hard. I always thought loving people should come naturally and easily. I thought love was a feeling. Love can feel good and love can cause good feelings, but love isn’t a feeling. It’s an ability that must be learned. It doesn’t come naturally, because we are not You. Yes, we are made in Your image, but we are flawed. The loving part got messed up. Feelings are not always based on truth. They don’t always stay the same, like You do.
Loving others costs. It costs patience. It costs perseverance. It costs endurance. It costs forgiveness. It costs kindness. It costs self-control.
It costs effort.
Your love for me, cost the ultimate price. It cost You Your life. It cost You excruciating pain. It cost You the agony of knowing what it felt like to be forsaken by God so that I would never have to.
I pray that You would help me not shrink back from the cost of loving others. I pray that You would help me stop relying on my feelings and rely completely on Your Spirit to teach me. I pray I would learn the difference between codependency and real Christ-like love. I pray that all my fears would be cast out with Your perfect love so that I might be able to love freely and unconditionally, just like You do.
Thank You, Jesus.
Conversations With Jesus 