I just got back from a Charles Billingsley concert and wow did God move. I am blessed to be able to listen to Charles almost every Sunday, as he is the worship pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church. Charles said something tonight at the concert that stuck with me. He said “There are only two kinds of “do’s” that you need to worry about…they are to love God and to love people. If you focus on doing those two things, all of the “don’t’s” won’t even matter anymore.” I got to thinking about the statement, and thought “wow that is so true”!! When our sole focus is loving God first, it then enables us to do the second part, which is to love people.
LOVE – It is a word that has been studied by many and yet understood by few. True love is hard to find, yet true love is worth the search and the waiting. Where is true love found? True love can only be found in and through Jesus Christ. Jesus should be our #1 love in all of our lives. God chose to first love us, but we also must choose to love Him. The only way we can display “true love” to others around us is by going to the source of LOVE.
Are you searching to find true love in the world, in people, in relationships, in stuff, in family? You will come up empty every time. Sure, I do love my family and my friends, but first and foremost I must love my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My identity must be found in the Lord, not in my relationships with people.
1 Corinthians 13:1-7 says,
“If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn’t love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I had the gift of prophecy, and if I understood all of God’s secret plans and possessed all knowledge, and if I had such faith that I could move mountains, but didn’t love others, I would be nothing. If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing. Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”
Do you want to be like a “noisy gong or clanging symbol”? You are, if you are not loving those God has placed in your life. We all have opportunities each and every day to show love to those around us. It could be in the form of a smile, a hug, a phone call, a text, an email, a gift, and the list could go on and on. I challenge you this week to focus on first and foremost loving God. What does loving God look like? Loving God means spending time with Him, getting to know Him, reading His word, serving, caring, listening. If your compass is the Lord, He will lead you in the right direction when it comes to loving others. He is the ultimate guide. He is our ultimate example of LOVE.
I also challenge you to love others!! You will not be disappointed when you do this J!! Go out of your way this week to show love to someone who desperately needs to see the love of Jesus shown through you.
On a side note, I will be announcing soon where I have signed to play for this upcoming season overseas. God has brought me through another surgery, and it is all for His glory. It is my desire as I embark on another season to show God’s love to those around me. I am so thankful for the Lord’s blessing on my life and for Him allowing me to do something I love, and in the process be able to share His love. God never promises us that this life will be easy, because it definitely won’t be, but He does promise us to see us through.
God bless,
Megan