How's Your Love Life?


How’s your love life? No, I don’t mean your relationship with the opposite sex, but how well you love other people who are put in your path.

In my early thirties I was living in Jackson, Mississippi and was attending First Baptist Church which is a huge mega church. One Sunday the pastor at the time, Earle Craig, was preaching a sermon on loving your neighbor. One statement that he said still rings in my mind. It was, “If you do not love other people, I question your faith.” Wow…what a slap in my face. 

I was a woman of strong faith or so I thought, but when he said that sentence, my life was changed. I began to examine my life and realized that I didn’t always love other people. I was critical and judgmental. I was proud and “holier than thou.” I was selfish and self-centered and cared much more about myself than the needs and concerns of others. Now I could go on, but I think you probably get the picture. 

I did “like” people, but I certainly did not always show them the love of Christ. Especially not in the ways that Jesus did when He was on this earth. He touched the sick and filthy people of His day. He ate with the worst of the sinners. He washed the dirty feet of the disciples. He fed the ones who were hungry. He prayed for those who hurt Him the most. The list could go on and on and as I looked at the exemplary life of our Savior, I realized that my “love life” was lacking. 

So I prayed and asked God to change me. Notice, I said change me, not to change the people around me, so that they would be easier to love. The transformation wasn’t instantaneous, but God did begin to work in my life. Little by little, step by step I did grow to love people for who they were and not what they could do for me. It is very freeing to be able to love and serve and give of myself to others. 

Would you take the litmus test that I was given so many years ago and see how you measure up in the love department? If you fail as I did, will you ask God to change you too and then wait expectantly to see what He will do in your life? 

1 John 4:21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

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