"They should not try to love that person (who is difficult to love), but try to become the kind of person who would love them." --Dallas Willard
Mr. Willard goes on to say, "Love is not a faucet to be turned on or off at will. God himself doesn't just love me or you, He is love." If God is in me and I in Him, then I am love also. And if I am love then I will love that difficult person. The issue then becomes, if I find myself not being love in any given moment, what's wrong with me--not, what's wrong with the other person.
The answer, of course, to what's wrong with me is I am quenching the Spirit in me. There's a whole host of "reasons" I may be doing this, but they all come under the heading of "fear" and fear is the opposite of trust.
Whenever something is troubling me, something I can't figure out, I find it helpful to ask myself "What are you afraid of, Cathy?" Sometimes my fears are not based on anything in the present, but come out of my past. Once I see this, I can stop being afraid. If it's based on something in the present, then I realize I'm either not trusting God for the outcome or I've wanted to do something my way. Lack of obedience creates fear in us, just as Adam and Eve suffered fear and hid from God after their disobedience. Fear and love cannot exist in the same space just as dark and light cannot exist in the same place. Light and dark may be along side each other like in the picture above, but they cannot be one and the same.
That is why if we are to be one with God we cannot be both love and fear or dark and light. We must choose one or the other. Only the right choice will enable us to be love.
Father, my stubbornness and willfulness are my true enemies because they keep me separate from You. In You I am Love and love casts out all fear.
Link to Scripture: 1 John 4:18
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| Sunrise over Europe |
Mr. Willard goes on to say, "Love is not a faucet to be turned on or off at will. God himself doesn't just love me or you, He is love." If God is in me and I in Him, then I am love also. And if I am love then I will love that difficult person. The issue then becomes, if I find myself not being love in any given moment, what's wrong with me--not, what's wrong with the other person.
The answer, of course, to what's wrong with me is I am quenching the Spirit in me. There's a whole host of "reasons" I may be doing this, but they all come under the heading of "fear" and fear is the opposite of trust.
Whenever something is troubling me, something I can't figure out, I find it helpful to ask myself "What are you afraid of, Cathy?" Sometimes my fears are not based on anything in the present, but come out of my past. Once I see this, I can stop being afraid. If it's based on something in the present, then I realize I'm either not trusting God for the outcome or I've wanted to do something my way. Lack of obedience creates fear in us, just as Adam and Eve suffered fear and hid from God after their disobedience. Fear and love cannot exist in the same space just as dark and light cannot exist in the same place. Light and dark may be along side each other like in the picture above, but they cannot be one and the same.
That is why if we are to be one with God we cannot be both love and fear or dark and light. We must choose one or the other. Only the right choice will enable us to be love.
Father, my stubbornness and willfulness are my true enemies because they keep me separate from You. In You I am Love and love casts out all fear.
Link to Scripture: 1 John 4:18
Take Action:
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