Everything we do in the
Christian life is meaningless unless we are guided by real love.
~ Why does a wife stay with a lost, abusive
husband, while others would not?
~ Why do preachers stay in a community that
despises their presence while another preacher would leave and wipe the
dust off his feet?
The reason? Love.
It is their motivator…
I Corinthians 13:1& 13 “Though I
speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become
as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.”
“And now abideth faith, hope, charity,
these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”
One of the identifying marks
of real love is that charity suffers long. This isn’t just talking about putting up with
something unpleasant, it is speaking of being willing to experience suffering from another, for a longer
period of time than you may choose to or may even want to. Perhaps you live with a verbally abusive
husband. Can you treat him kindly (suffer
long) when he is talking harshly to you?
This is not an easy thing to do and is completely impossible without the
Spirit of God to enable you.
Real love is lived because
you have the mind of Christ leading you.
What was that mind? Romans
5:8 “…while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Hebrews 12:3 “For
consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest
ye be wearied and faint in your minds.”
The love of Christ was the
kind that while we wicked sinners were rebelling against Him and despising Him,
He took up a cross to bear those very sins on Himself. He is our example!
We can suffer long if we will think like our Master
thinks!
Philippians 2:1 “If there be therefore
any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the
Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.”
When we have the mind of
Christ toward our husband, we will be able to suffer long and still perform
kind deeds for him. When we esteem him
better than ourselves, we will have those “bowels
of mercies” for him. It won’t be
difficult to go the 2nd mile for him.
Can you see that genuine,
Biblical love is really a super-natural thing.
It’s one of the fruits of the Spirit…an evidence of Christ’s Spirit in
us! Real love will allow itself to
suffer and hurt because of the actions or words of others.
Remembering that Jesus is our
example, we should not be so quick to get even or retaliate when we perceive an
injustice has been done. As Christians,
we are supposed to be dead to the flesh.
Crucified with Christ…why then do we allow hurtful things to change us
and control our reactions to our husband and the people around us?
I need the longsuffering Spirit that Matthew 5:44
speaks of… “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and
persecute you.”
Are you willing to endure hurts in order to show
Biblical love? When was the last time
you did something nice for one of your enemies…?
1 comment:
This is to the ladies at NTBC,
I hope we all realize how deep and rich these blog articles are that are written by Mrs Shaffer and other ladies in our church. The Lord uses every one of these articles in my life just when I need them. These articles are so needed for today's women. Personally I am thankful. I know you are too. Thank you writers for sharing your heart. We know that you experience what you write about. May the Lord continue to use you and keep our blog going!!
Emilie
ers
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