Keep on loving
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What did you do for Valentine’s Day? Did you get something special? Did you give anything to other people? Do you spend a little extra time on Valentine’s day thinking about love? Valentines day is so fun to celebrate, and it is so fun to share love with other people.
Why just one day of the year? Our whole lives should be centered on love. So we should make effort and take time all year long to spend a little extra time focusing on love. It is incredible how loving other people and doing special things actually fills you up yourself. We live in such a give to receive and consumer world that we think we will only feel fulfilled and good when we get stuff. But have you experienced the blessing of sharing love? That feeling is the true goodness of experiencing real love. Real love doesn’t focus on just one day of the year, it doesn’t focus on what it is receiving, it doesn’t focus on an exchange, it doesn’t keep score, it doesn’t live centered on never enough. Real love is fulfilling, it is good, it is real, and it lasts forever. Don’t settle on just one day of the year. Think about ways you can incorporate more love into your life all year long. Whether its writing notes, buying someone a Starbucks, calling a friend, telling someone you are thankful for them… it doesn’t have to be extravagant, just do something.
Don’t focus on what you think you deserve. Focus on what you can do for others. Focus on the love of God. Focus on the gift God gave through his son Jesus to come and take away what we truly deserve. Through his mercy and grace we experience life and love in a whole new way. We are undeserving, but God loves us right where we are. Francis Chan writes in his book, “You and Me Forever”, “What God did on our behalf does not make us spiritually neutral. Rather, He has made us righteous. Attractive. Those who cling to Jesus are beautiful to Him.” Can you hear the power in that love? He took us in our mess and made us not just okay, he made us beautiful. Because of his love. Now if you really lived in that love, what would your life look like? Would you sit back and just revel in it, or would you take action, find the joy, spread the love, and do something about it?
Don’t let the love of Valentine’s day fizzle out. Live in love every day. Live in the love God your Father has for you. And let that love overflow. Live different. Live in love. And experience new abundance of life and love that you never even knew existed.
