Respond in Love

I am convinced one of the keys to being successful in life is in the way we respond. There are some a lot of situations in life that we can't control. Often times, those situations get people down and they become victims of their circumstances. Don't get me wrong, I know there are a lot of hard, ugly things in the world, some I have experienced and others I have not, so I don't want to come off sounding insensitive. However, I know that there is a God that is so much BIGGER than any of those things. I know that His love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8) This verse never said that love covers a multitude of your sins. It covers the sins of you, but also those who have sinned against you. It can cover the most evil things we can imagine (or don't have to imagine).

Where does that leave us? In our response. We can respond to our situations with anger, sadness, bitterness, hopelessness, unforgiveness, hate, jealousy, or pride (just to name a few). When we chose to respond this way, we are only hurting ourselves. I am not saying it is wrong to experience these emotions temporarily, but we must chose not to live in them. We must chose to allow God to heal our hearts of these things. To transform us to be people who respond in love. With the love of Christ. The type of love that is unconditional, everlasting. 

How does that play out in our day to day lives? There are many ways that this can look but I think that Colossians 3:12-14 describes it well, "Therefore, as God's chose people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity."

I love how this verse says put on love which implies it is a choice. It doesn't mean that it is easy or that it doesn't require a conscious effort to love someone. It means we must chose to love someone through the filter in which Jesus chose to love us {wasn't that while we were sinners}? 

These verses are so challenging. They cause me to see my own weakness. They cause me to pray for change if my own life and heart. How do they affect you?

PS- If you haven't already, make sure that you read our Giveaway Post. This is the last day to enter.