How much are you willing to love God? Is there a day coming which we will have to be tested to prove our love towards Him? Could our love be merely based upon our lack of faith in knowing we need to rely upon Him for the truth? How far are we willing to prove our love? Sometimes it is a limited faith which prevents us acting out on our love towards Him. God expressed to Abraham in Genesis 22:2, "He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." He tested Abraham's love by offering up what he mostly desired.... his only son.... Therefore, is Christian willing to give up their desires (doctrine, religion, idols or whatever prevents them to grow or to move forward) to love God as He commanded? What limits or boundaries are being placed in your life in order for you to reach your full potential? Drugs? Alcohol? Lack of self esteem?
Sometimes we believe in lies in which we tell ourselves, which limits our ability to grow. If you truly want to feel loved, so that you can obey the command which has been given to all mankind, “”love your neighbor as yourself,” then you must die to self. Difficult to die to self, and I am not speaking about picking up a gun or a knife and committing suicide.
When is the last time you gave up your last dime to feed someone who was hungry? When was the last time you gave up your favorite shirt to someone who was cold and needed something to warm them by when it was 40 degrees outside? Could you be willing to give up your favorite television show to just spend one hour visiting someone who was sick in the hospital? What about volunteering for big brother or sister and provide a healthy mentorship to a teenager just starting in their life?
Sometimes we have to give up what we want the most in order to find the true happiness only. He can provide. Pay it forward and expect something in return. For too long the feminist movement has expressed to love and expect nothing in return. God doesn’t work that way. He says to give and you will receive. Give your love to someone and sacrifice and watch how well you come alive again in love for other and a deeper love for Him.
Suffering from depression? Suffer from anxiety? Suffer from suffering? Have you had enough? Take the challenge. Pick up the challenge and run with the baton of life and hand it off to someone who needs that extra push in life. Like any race we run, we will win the reward, and you don’t have to be in the first place to reap the benefits. Pay it forward to someone in need.
A friendship was won when a person at work was suffering from a lack of water. The water line busted and flooded the front yard. She was devastated. Husband had no job and the income of $12 an hour was all they had to exist on. They already had a prior expense and talking about another blow from Satan when they were already down and out. Going on vacation I could have used that extra $100.00. Instead, I sacrificed it for her family and didn’t miss it. It was enough to know they could rest at night knowing they can take a clean shower in the morning. The lack of money on mine and their parts didn’t matter. What matters the most, was that God’s love is shared and the hearts were beating.
Sometimes it is a realization, we have to sacrifice things in our lives in order for us to feel alive again. Next time if you are in an argument with your spouse, sacrifice your desire to fight back and say a kind word and see what happens. Love is amazing. Love is the cure to depression. Pay it forward in the language the other person can understand.
