This morning I was reading Colossians 3 and I came to verse 14. The Passion Translation reads like this:
“For love is supreme and must flow through each of those virtues. Love becomes the mark of true maturity.”
We can all read this verse and think exactly what I first thought. There are so many people that need to dive deeper into God (myself included) in order to truly mature in Christ and just exude love and that all the religious people that reject those that are different and hurt them are definitely not mature.
I read it one more time and I realized how much this verse applies to dating. We are always trying to find the perfect guy/girl, but we don’t have any idea who is legitimate and who isn’t. A lot of times it leads to heartbreak. God does give us a lot of red flags in the process, but that’s another blog post.
So how can we know who is being honest about their faith in Christ? The answer lies in another question: How do they love? I don’t just mean their families or friends or even God. I mean how does this person love that coworker or boss that tries to make them miserable? How does he/she love the older woman who has groceries and no one to help her? How does he/she love the single mom in the restaurant with screaming kids? How does he/she love the waiter or waitress with a bad attitude or the other driver that cuts him/her off?
People are good at pretending, but at some point something pushes you over the edge where you can’t pretend anymore. That’s where we will see who he or she is. That’s when you’ll know if you should invest in this person or if you should walk away.
Before we do that we have to ask ourselves this question. How do I love? Do I criticize and talk badly about my boss behind his/her back all the time instead of thanking God that they are there knowing God using them to mold your character to His likeness? Do I scream and curse at the driver that just cut me off or do I let it go and pray for them so they don’t end up in an accident? Do I talk badly about the mom’s discipline style or do I help distract her kids for a minute to give her the peace and quiet that she so desperately needs? Do I see the older woman and just say “poor lady she has no one to help her out” or do I take some of her bags to her house?
What if our answers to these questions aren’t showing love to others? How do we love in that way? I don’t have any other answer, but through practice and spending time with God. He is love so if you spend time with love, you will become love and you put what God places in your heart to change into practice.
Therefore that little voice that tells you to stop talking badly about your boss is God and He wants you to be happy and content where you are so listen and obey. It’ll be hard at first, but you’ll get better and happier. Plus you’ll be be honoring your leader and honoring God in the process. It’s a Win-Win-Win situation.
God desires us to be happy with Him. He wants to change us, but it’s not an obligation. You don’t have to be perfect to follow God or be close to Him. He just wants you to be close to Him. Everything will slowly fall in its place. Granted there will be certain things that God will ask you to do that will be sacrifices, but you won’t feel that kind of pressure on you. That pressure to perform or change as quickly as possible to make Him happy because He is already happy and proud of you. Even if the steps you take are small He celebrates them as a great victory every single time.
So let’s pray:
God,
Thank you so much every opportunity you have given me to show love to others in the way you’ve shown it to me. I pray that I can show the true mark of a mature believer and if I’m distracted when an opportunity present itself to demonstrate it, tug at my heart again. Remind me to be who you made me to be. Fill me with your love every day. Open my heart and eyes to see and love others the way you love them. Help me to not only love others, but love myself in a healthy way. Remove anyone that is in my life that is holding me back instead of pushing me towards you. Thank you for being proud of me, not because of anything I can do, but just because you are. Thank you for being so good to me and reminding me that I’m good too.
Amen.
The Search For His Heart 