God, thank you for loving me in spite of myself
I’m astonished at times that God loves me honestly. I have innumerable sins. I do not always love God as he commands. I do not always love others as he commands. So how in the world can God still love me so perfectly at ALL times? I guess because God’s love is not of this world. And God IS love. And as his child, I’m forgiven and free in Christ for God’s love to abound.
God loves me in spite of myself.
1 Corinthians 13:7 “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
This verse is beautiful to me. I can literally feel God’s love in it. Each part just speaks to my heart. I think it’d be interesting to look at it in detail. Surely there’s a reason God has drawn me to it.
Love bears all things:
What is it to “bear” all things? For me it refers to bearing with others imperfections and loving them anyway. In a sense that love covers over the fact that no one is perfect.
Love believes all things:
What does it mean love “believes” all things? To me this is coming from a place of believing the good in people. And to approach loving others without bringing any judgement upon them.
Love hopes all things:
What is “hoping” all things in love? For me this is the confident expectation of the outcome being good. To go into loving others believing there are good things to come even when they are currently unseen.
Love endures all things:
What does “enduring” all things in love mean? To me this means sustaining with patience as I love others. And to persevere without complaining while doing it.
All things:
What are all things? For me this means all things together with discernment and wisdom. That align with scripture and biblical principles.
All I can think is…how badly I’m failing at loving others in each of those ways.
I’d love to say this all sounds inspiring, but honestly It’s pretty overwhelming. As I read back through it, it’s quite clear how far away I am from God’s standard of love. And incredibly, every part of that verse shows that God absolutely loves me in spite of myself.
But the REAL challenge comes with me loving others in spite of themselves.
How can I do that? How can I love others in the way God loves me? I think it may be helpful if I put a few examples with each part of the verse (a list can solve anything)(insert smile here).
Love Bears:
Instead of
Focusing on how annoying something may be when I’m talking to someone
I can
Keep in mind that I myself have many annoying things that people who love me bear with
Love believes:
Instead of
When talking to someone, assuming/judging that their intentions may not be good
I can
Go into the conversation with an open heart and mind
Love hopes:
Instead of
Deciding for myself what the outcome will be based on what I can see
I can
Boldly look forward to the outcome as good no matter how it looks in the moment
Love endures:
Instead of
Getting impatient and frustrated (and even worse complaining to someone else about it later)
I can
Remind myself that people have definitely been patient with me (nor would I appreciate someone complaining about me to others)
All things:
Instead of
Using my in the world mindset and experiences
I can
Pray and ask God for guidance and read his word for the truth
Even though I can never love as perfectly as God does, I can certainly improve how I love people. And ultimately God can help me…to learn to love others in spite of themselves.
So perhaps I should change the title of this entry.
God, please teach me to love others in spite of themselves
So here it is.
Blog entry Eleven
Follow God and Bake from your Heart,
Ellie