Love Like God

Love teaches us to reorder our desire to that which gives life
and away from that which brings death. ~ Don Sizemore, LCSW Interweave

God calls us to love others but we don't have to like them. Have you heard that statement? I’ve never really understood it.

If I don't like someone, it's very hard – if not impossible - to love that person. Did God create people and say, Oh man, I don't like him but I'll love him enough to send my son to die for him?

The like or dislike I have for someone or something has a lot to do with my personal desires. I want people to act or respond in a way that is desirable to me. If they don’t, I don’t like being around them. God’s love is not like that. Some of you are reading this and saying another one of my pet peeve phrases: love the sinner, hate the sin.

If I truly love "the sinner," and I sincerely believe the wages of sin is death, what am I doing for that person to give him life? If my sin ("everything that does not come from faith is sin" ~ Romans 14:23) were hated by someone who loved me, what would I expect them to do to keep me from receiving the wages I've earned?

Genesis mentions two trees in the Garden of Eden. One was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The other was the tree of Life. Love is teaching me to be quick to listen and slow to speak because the sweetness of life is a lot more desirable than cold, hard knowledge.

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Hebrews 10:22-24