Love is one of those hard to nail down emotions. It can mean so many things- blind faith, foolish actions, standing by someone who doesn’t deserve it, intense passion, feelings of being elated, true joy. But what does it mean in its purest, most perfect form? Well I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by people I love and who love me lots. A wonderful family and great friends who extend to me patience, kindness, they trust me, persevere, have hope for me and protect me. But they, as amazing as they have been to me are nothing compared to the love my God has for me.
God is love. God’s love is perfect- it casts out all fear, it is my saving grace. He knows my heart- what enchants it, my thoughts, my comings and my goings and he has taken my heart in its frayed, raw state and reformed it. Smoothed and sanded it allowing it to heal and breathe again. His grace is a medicine so sweet and potently powerful its forms the very elixir of life. It’s taste has unmatched and unparalleled magnificence and it can heal and restore beyond comprehension. It can reach into the past and see far into the future. It requires only the simplest recognition of its power. And mercy- unending and uncompromising- mercy strong and mighty not meek and mild. His mercy is not to be underestimated or abused. Its purchase power ransoms and releases. But what does it mean? What is God’s love in action and what can we take from it?
What does God’s love mean to me? It means being quicker to forgive than I am to anger. It means speaking life and kindness to those who are nasty. It means not engaging in office gossip or churning the rumour mill. It means loving people- the ones we want to, the ones we definitely don’t, people we know, and people we don’t- the whole shebang! And it means not being proud- not reserving yourself for the last word or prioritising yourself above all else. It has taught me to realign what I think about myself with who God says I am.
Recently love has inspired me to have vision and dreams for my life. To no longer look down, but look people square in the eye, shoulders back and know that I have worth- I have something to offer, something to give.
So to conclude, love can be a grand gesture, it is in the everyday but mostly I have found it is in the small things. More than that, it is the small things. God’s love has shown me how to modify my attitudes and actions so that I can be more loving towards others. Believe me, I have a long way to go with most, if not all of this but God’s love teaches me more about what I should aim for and how I should be and I’m confident that it’s God’s love that is going to get me there.
Written by Sara Bennett
TweetMe @Sarallam
Check out her personal blog HERE