“Love will hold us together; make us a shelter to weather the storm. And I’ll be my brother’s keeper so the whole world will know that were not alone.” Matt Maher

“I’m just not feeling it”, my husband explains; his shoulders shrug, hands loose at his sides; an act of indifference.

He often leads worship at our church, but recently the world and all of its busyness had zapped his desire to lead others in praise. What he had once described as his calling had become just another task in a week of overwhelming responsibility.  The world was winning! He had allowed life to tell him how to feel and how to respond to the choices set before him.

The problem with letting ourselves be led by how we feel is that there will always be things we would rather do; or places that we would rather be. Excuses will muddy what we know to be Gods way, and instead of the best we’ll opt for self-gratification.

Jesus says love as He loves us. He also says that it is easy to love those who love you…”where is the honor in that?” But it is in the love of our enemies that we find the true nature of God. The true nature of unconditional love.

Love

It is a choice – not a feeling. Do we feel like loving the person who pulled into the parking space that we had been waiting for? Or the checkout clerk who squashed our bread with the other groceries? Or even the woman at school who has been whispering behind our backs? Or at church? If we thought long enough I’m sure we would have a long list of people who we felt were not worthy of our love, people who had wronged us or someone we love. This is not to say that we don’t have a right to be angry at the situation, but Jesus didn’t say to love those who were worthy. He said to love as He loves. He gave his life out of love for those who are unworthy, he blessed those who meant him harm and asked His Father for forgiveness on their behalf. He forgives us.

That kind of puts it into perspective doesn’t it?

We have a choice every day; to love. To go out of our way to show love and kindness to strangers or enemies.  I guarantee there will be times that you won’t want to, but your choice to love that person can mean the difference between showing the world that a loving God exists, and them believe that there is no hope.

As Matt Maher says in his song - hold us together; “I’ll be my brother’s keeper, so the whole world will know that were not alone”.

Choose to love as God loves you.

Who knows, it might catch on – imagine what could happen if the whole world would just choose to love. We can’t choose for others but we can decide to be the example – regardless of how others treat us.

Choose.

Whether you are feeling it or not -

Offer your heart to God; completely.

Receive His love and then

Give it freely.

Watch Matt Maher perform “hold us together” Live at K-love:

Soli Deo Gloria!