Skip to main content

“If you pursue loving God and loving others, love will pursue and find you.”

A thought by Erwin Raphael McManus (2003-09-04) from his book, Uprising: A Revolution of the Soul (Kindle Locations 2123-2124). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

The key is it is both.  It’s in pursuing to love God and pursing to love others that love will find you.  In our self-centeredness we are constantly looking for someone to love us but in God’s mind and plan that is backwards.

Now if I am striving to love so I will be loved I will not find true love.  We are to love no matter whether it is returned or not.  We are just to love. That is what real love does.  But if i strive to love God and love others then that selfless act will bring love to me.

Earlier Erwin says, “God is inviting us to focus on loving rather than on being loved. God knows that only when our hearts are in this position are we able to experience the love we long for.”

Margaret and I go to Erwin’s church, Mosaic Hollywood and Hank Fortener, the other Teaching Pastor at Mosaic shared yesterday that this is also the way you receive healing from your pain.  It is in striving to heal someone else’s pain that you are healed.  It is through serving others that our needs are truly met.  Somehow in our selfish state we have messed up life as God has created it to be lived.

Listen, loving with strings attached is not true love.  True love has no strings attached.  What that means is that if you do something for someone and then are hurt because they didn’t thank you or didn’t do something in return for you then you didn’t do what you did because you loved them with real love.  You did it for selfishness or to be loved.  Again, God knows that only when our hearts are focused on loving rather than being loved are we able to experience the love we long for.

Spend some time in reflection on this thought.  This could be a real defining moment in your life.   “If you pursue loving God and loving others, love will pursue and find you.”

So how is your love life? 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“We believe it’s important to derive value from everything in our lives.”

A thought by Jon Tyson from his book, The Burden Is Light: Liberating Your Life from the Tyranny of Performance and Success (p. 118). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) But is that all that is important? Jon says, “We want to realize an immediate return from whatever we invest in. I am prone to this way of thinking in so many areas of my life. ‘I paid a lot for that meal, yet the portions were not that big.’ ‘I invested two hours in that movie, and it was just okay.’   ‘I went to church, but the sermon wasn’t that profound.’ We believe it’s important to derive value from everything in our lives. But beauty doesn’t fit within that framework. When Mary anointed Jesus with oil, there was an immediate outcry against her extravagant generosity. ‘It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages and the money given to the poor.’ (Mark 14:5) One gospel depicts the disciples crying, ‘Why this waste?...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book,   Winning the War on Worry    (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...
Post a Comment
Read more

“Hurry and love are incompatible.”

A thought by John Mark Comer from his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry (p. 23). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) Wow, pretty strong thought isn’t it? John says, “All my worst moments as a father, a husband, and a pastor, even as a human being, are when I’m in a hurry—late for an appointment, behind on my unrealistic to-do list, trying to cram too much into my day. I ooze anger, tension, a critical nagging—the antitheses of love. If you don’t believe me, next time you’re trying to get your type B wife and three young, easily distracted children out of the house and you’re running late (a subject on which I have a wealth of experience), just pay attention to how you relate to them. Does it look and feel like love? Or is it far more in the vein of agitation, anger, a biting comment, a rough glare? Hurry and love are oil and water: they simply do not mix.” He goes on, “Hence, in the apostle P...
Post a Comment
Read more