For thought and meditation

[rl69]

add to your…brotherly kindness love. 2 PETER 1:5, 7
Love is an indefinite thing to most of us; we don’t know what we mean when we talk about love. Love is the loftiest preference of one person for another, and spiritually Jesus demands that this sovereign preference be for Himself (see Luke 14:26). Initially, when “the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5), it is easy to put Jesus first. But then we must practice the things mentioned in 2 Peter 1 to see them worked out in our lives.
The first thing God does is forcibly remove any insincerity, pride, and vanity from my life. And the Holy Spirit reveals to me that God loved me not because I was lovable, but because it was His nature to do so. Now He commands me to show the same love to others by saying, “…love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). He is saying, “I will bring a number of people around you whom you cannot respect, but you must exhibit My love to them, just as I have exhibited it to you.” This kind of love is not a patronizing love for the unlovable— it is His love, and it will not be evidenced in us overnight. Some of us may have tried to force it, but we were soon tired and frustrated.
“The Lord…is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish…” (2 Peter 3:9). I should look within and remember how wonderfully He has dealt with me. The knowledge that God has loved me beyond all limits will compel me to go into the world to love others in the same way. I may get irritated because I have to live with an unusually difficult person. But just think how disagreeable I have been with God! Am I prepared to be identified so closely with the Lord Jesus that His life and His sweetness will be continually poured out through Me? Neither natural love nor God’s divine love will remain and grow in me unless it is nurtured. Love is spontaneous, but it has to be maintained through discipline

[square butte]

Thanks for the good start to my morning - Appreciate this good scripture and thought

[USMC87]

Amen for a great lesson and start of the day.

[Blackwater]

Whenever I want to see what REAL abiding and agape love looks like, I look to my young puppy. Dogs have a capacity for loving us humans that no other creature on earth seems to have. And we humans seem to love for so long as it "excites" us. It's quite fashionable now, to seek out near constant "excitement" and activity, but real love is as satisfied, and maybe even moreso, in the quiet little moments when there's really nothing going on to amount to anything. Even just watching TV silently with the one(s) you love, can be very satisfying. Love just naturally wants to be together. And so many, many folks today don't seem to have a clue about what REAL love truly is. Many think it's just sex! What a stilted and cynical view of the greatest power in our world today! After all, what can stop wars, save lives, and prevent disasters as well as love can? The "smarter" we get technically, the "dumber" we get metaphysically! Ain't it funny how that works?