How deep is your love??

After reading that title do you hear the Bee Gees in your head singing that song?? I sure do.
I wasn't ever a fan, but I know my mom liked them.

I told y'all last Monday that these posts on Monday morning were a recap or something that just stuck with me from our sermon on Sunday. I'm writing this to keep our church families in the loop each week in case they missed, or would like my deep intellectual knowledge from the sermon! :) Oh, you know me better than that. I'll just keep it straight and simple. For mental ease of course. Not that I can't go into that deep part of my brain or anything.

Well, we are reading Adam Hamilton's book "Seeing Gray in a World of Black and White." This weeks sermon was titled, "How deep is your love." I really love love love this book so far. It is allowing me to realize that we NEED the black and white of the world so the gray can exist. It does exist. And, I do think if you sit in the gray in a certain area of life whether its moral issues or religious issues or even political issues, it's ok. The gray exists because it connects the black and the white. Don't feel bad if you sit in the gray along the way. Absolutes are there. But, we all know that some things we just won't know or fully understand until we can ask God Himself.

Ok...so, how deep is your love?

I'm always teaching kids that it's soooooo easy to love those people in our lives that are easy to love. But what about that person who is constantly a thorn in your side? What about the one who has to constantly disagree with you?? What about the one who is just plain negative and you want to strangle them? We all know them. They are out there in our life.

What about those deeper issues of homosexuality, abortion, or homelessness, addiction, etc.???
Now that right there....is something very different when it comes to loving others. These are deeper issues of love.

John 13:34 says, "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

Simple to understand. Sometimes hard to do. If it were that simple, we would all just love each other with ease and there would never be hot topic debates or discussions that get folks worked up.

So...how can we love someone that we are really struggling to love??

1. Realize that sharing love with someone is a complete act of God flowing through us. We need to ask His love to run through our hearts and minds because apart from Him...we just can't love them.

2. Willingness to love is not based on agreement or conformity. Can I love them if they are different than me?

3. My attitude in my heart and mind should be that "I am a loving person. I am slow to judge and slow to anger." That is the boogaboo for me. Let's all say..."I am going to be slow to judge."

These 3 statements have made me realize that I cannot and should not even attempt to go through a single hour of the day without the power of God in my life. I cannot do this thing without Him.

Living in the gray of a black and white world is the most challenging love out there. That part of life is hard.

So, how deep is your love??




Have a great day! Be full of Him and all that He can do through us.
Love is Who God is.