February 13

“Do those close to you know that they can fail and do foolish things, yet you will not falter in your love for them?  Are others assured that, even when they hurt you, you still love them, holding nothing against them?”  H. Blackaby, Experiencing God Day-by-Day, 2/13

Blackaby asks these questions in his devotional entitled “Love Assumes the Best.”  I first experienced this Truth for myself more than 25 years ago when I lived in a townhouse community.  I noticed that the emptied trash cans left out front too long by the neighbors who were my friends didn’t bother me like the ones left out by neighbors I didn’t know.   I often think of that example when I find myself feeling irritated by something I have no control over. I remind myself I must “make friends” with the people involved.  But I must confess I’ve not always applied this Truth to those closest to me.  I know I’m not alone in this because others have not always loved me in this unconditional way.  As I write, I can see God looking down from above at His pitiful children standing their ground--insisting on their right to be loved unconditionally first before they'll love.  God is shaking His Head, mourning the fact that we still don’t get it--not even His Children.  He loves us unto death, literally, yet all we do is take, take, take.  He came to earth in the form of a man, suffered a painful death on the cross for us, inviting us to die to ourselves with Him by taking up His cross as our cross, so that we might have His Life in exchange--enabling us to love others as He loves us.  Each time we fail to love someone unconditionally we are denying this.

“Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8