Just Love People

             

1 John 3:23, “And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.”

   I like to walk a lot.  There are numerous reasons for this.  First, at my age it is good for my health.  I used to love to run but my knees just don’t like it anymore.  Second, it’s good to get out in the sun and just enjoy some me time. Third, and probably the most important, is that it helps me relieve stress, which I certainly don’t need. 

                One day I was out walking for this particular reason, stress!  I had really messed up that week.  It seemed like every time I turned around I was doing something or saying something that I shouldn’t be.  I felt like I had a perfectly good reason to quit the ministry that day.  You know, I was having a pity party for myself. I was ranting and raving and telling God that I didn’t want to preach or teach anymore.  I didn’t even know why He ever allowed me to do it in the first place.  I was telling Him what a mess I was, as if He didn’t already know.  He spoke to me very clear that particular afternoon.  I want you to listen real closely to what he said to me and remember, I was focusing on everything I had done wrong.

                “What did you do for Johnny yesterday?”  “Well, Lord, you know what I did.”  Johnny had broken down the day before and I stopped to help him get his car running.  “ What did you do for Sam today?”  “Well, Lord, you know what I did.”  Sam was really down on his luck and I reached into my wallet and gave him the cash I had.   Then He asked, “What did you do for Ms. Maggi the other night?” “Well, Lord, you know what I did.”  Ms. Maggie had called me one night and was really down so I spent some time with her on the phone just encouraging her and praying for her.  “What did you do for that stranger that came to prayer meeting on Wednesday night?”  “Well, Lord, you know what I did.”  A stranger had come to church that night and he was traveling but stopped in to pray with us on his way.  I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to fill up his gas tank.  Then the Lord said something that shook my world, “you just keep loving my people and I’ll take care of the rest of it!”  When He finally hung the phone up that day I realized that He had, in fact already taken care of it all.  I was worrying about everything that His Son had already bled and died for.

                What is the point?  Very simply, that if we will love the people that God puts in front of us, we will fulfill the law and the prophets.  We are carrying out His commandments.  We don’t have to feel ashamed and guilty all the time.  We can now boldly and confidently approach Him.  The Law and the prophets were fulfilled when Jesus came and gave His life on Calvary.  Jesus Himself said in Matthew 5:17, “Don’t think that I came to abolish the Law or the prophets;   I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.”

                If we would just love people everyday, especially the ones God steers right in front of us, everything else will work out.  Now I know some people that are reading this are saying, “well, there’s sometimes when I just have to speak the truth.”  I totally agree with that statement.  But when we do have to speak negative things to a person there is still a way to do it in accordance with God’s Word.

Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word that is good for edification according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

                We can always speak into people’s lives and tell them truth.  In fact,  the most important thing we can do is tell them truth.  It’s the only thing that will set them free.  But you can say the same thing in many different ways.  Only when the word is spoken in love will it have the effect that God wants it to have in someone’s heart.  So don’t stop loving people right where they’re at.  If they need to hear truth then speak it to them, but do it in a way that they will be lifted up by it.  That’s God’s way to love people.  Oh my goodness do I ever fall short in this area.  I just thank God that He loves me enough to still put up with me.  No I’m certainly not perfect.

                 I guess that is really the whole point.  We’re all imperfect creatures trying to live in a forsaken world full of darkness.  We just do the best we can.  When we can’t do any better God supplies what’s needed.  We fall down a lot but God picks us back up.  We still make a lot of mistakes but God’s already paid the price for those failures.  We walk under the grace of God which we know is always sufficient for us.  If we were perfect, or did good all the time, we just wouldn’t need a Savior.  Jesus would have never had to come and die for us.  So do the best you can and continue to walk.  That’s the “Born Again Experience” of my life.  What about yours?