Has it happened to you lately? The moment your joy meets another person’s envy? The time your happy heart collides with someone’s self-pity? A friend waxes green behind a tight-lipped smile and a reluctant shake of the head…
“Must be nice…”
She may even toss God into it.
“Boy, I sure wish God would do that for me…”
Self-pity, self-seeking, comparison-making, false-fronts. Yuck, yuck, double yuck. But who hasn’t tasted the sour-stomaching fruity effects of the flesh?
So we ask God for more love!
Indeed, our flesh screams in protest when we work to attain something, only to watch it plop smack into someone else’s lap. Ker-plump! In that shady moment, our self-seeking souls want to resist the choice to deliriously enter into another person’s joys. I mean, to truly, completely, whole-heartedly enter in and celebrate with uncorked delight.
So we ask God for more love!
Life offers oodles of opportunities to practice love from all angles. For example, when others look less than ecstatic about our own blessings and golden eggs, we can choose to become serious pros at showing mercy. In so doing, we can watch grace-seeds hatch wild and swing right back around to kiss us!
God eagerly waits to empower us to take the high road of unconditionally blessing others—even the most undeserving—with kind thoughts, words, actions, and prayers. It’s called partnering with God and becoming more Christ-like.
So we ask God for more love!
Our refusal to go green can actually color our world and lift our spirits to new Kingdom heights. So what do you say we stir up God’s love-pot today? We’ll be all the more blessed for it.
And so will everyone else!
[box] “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35
“Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” John 16:24[/box]
You squeezed right on a place that needs some puss removal. How many times I’ve looked at whole, godly families that haven’t lost a spouse or any children and wished with all my heart it could have been that way for my family. These people take a lot of pride in their kids and now all the many grandkids that have come into their lives. How I long to have a large, loving extended family, but death and mental brokenness has robbed me of this earthly pleasure and support. I need to ask for more love for the ones who are blessed and not envy their good fortunes in relationships and growth.
Such a profound admission, Dr. Linda. We all struggle in so many ways. And it’s ultra easy to think wrong thoughts and feel wrong feelings. But God. He’s so loving and faithful. And aren’t you glad we can trust His plan? I pray many blessings over your life, Linda. Much love to you!
Thank you, Dr. Linda. I don’t know how long you have suffered, but I know the pain of unexpected loss of a beloved child to suicide, and the destruction it can wreak on a family. Our son died 30 years ago, and we miss him dearly. But our pain has turned to joy in many ways as we have trusted the Lord to guide us along our journey. Part of our healing has been reaching out in love to others who suffer and part of it has been rejoicing with those who are rejoicing for the wonderful blessings they have been consistently showered with in their families. We grow in our capacity to love when we pray God will give us more of His love for others. Because we don’t have His love on our own. God bless you for your caring heart!
Excellent!!
Thanks, Erik!!