Praise the Lord all, today is the first Sunday of February. This is what has been dubbed the month of/for love. Just around the corner on the 14th will be Valentine’s Day. I am sure many of you have already ensured or will ensure your significant other or special big or little person receives the best gift ever to show just how much you love them. Love is a very powerful word and something God has freely gifted us with as He himself chose to love us unconditionally, demonstrated by giving the world His only begotten son Jesus Christ to die for our sins. The Bible defines love not just as an action or feeling, but as the core nature of God: “God is love” (1 John 4:8).
I remember when I was growing up as a country bumpkin, being raised on the farm with my great-grandmother and great-grandfather, I felt like I had everything, especially unlimited and unrequited love. I used to take walks across the yard with my great-grandmother to get to the path that would take us down to her garden to plant seeds, and to pull vegetables, while my great grandpa was busy in the field on the tractor or tending to the animals. I remember feeling so alive and carefree; never wanting for anything. Fast forward, they have passed on, and it’s me with my teenage mom, grandmother, aunts, uncles, and little cousins all living under one roof. Much love was here also. But there was aside from love, abuse, molestation, suffering, hurt, and pain. I was five years old, having to witness the other side of ugliness, and that there was something other than love in the world. How many know that old adage (saying) where growing up family use to say, “What goes on in this house, stays in this house?” This would traumatize me, but I wouldn’t know it yet. Once I turned 13, my grandmother moved us from the country to the city. This, this right here would be the moment I would start facing my ultimate tests, trials, and tribulations. Some were good, some were bad, and some were just downright depressing to the point that I wanted to throw in the towel. I had forgotten all about love, especially how to love myself. Loving oneself is the most important thing we can do for ourselves, because if we can’t and don’t love ourselves, how can we truly love others the way they deserve to be loved?
The Bible states in 1 John 4:20-21 (NIV), “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.” This verse is emphasizing that loving fellow believers is a mandatory commandment, directly linking horizontal love for others with vertical love for God. Claiming to love God while harboring hatred toward another person is a contradiction and lie. Even when loving someone more than yourself, ensure that it’s in a positive light of doing so, and with an “agape” love, which is a form of selfless love that prioritizes the well-being, humility, and needs of others over oneself. Philippians 2:3-4 encourages us to value others above ourselves, bearing one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2), and laying down one’s life for friends, mirroring Christ’s sacrifice (John 15:13). I can testify, I was one who had found myself one too many times in relationships that were abusive (mentally, physically, verbally, and emotionally), and to me, at the time, I saw them as love. Sure, I no longer knew what love was. I had grew bitter, angry at the world, feeling like the world owed me something for all my troubles and sufferings, I was numb on the inside, I was an alcoholic at the age of 14, running the streets and running with the wrong crowds. I did not recognize anymore the positive aspects of love. I had forgotten how to love myself and how to love myself more. It wasn’t until I was in a deep dark pit that I had sought God. I wanted a change in and for my life for the better. Not just for myself, but for my children and for their environment and well-being. I reached up and took God’s hand. Luke 9:62 (NIV) states, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”
Jesus’ message here is “follow Me” and do not let the things of this world get in the way. We are too easily distracted by the urgent things of this life, our physical comforts, and our material desires. There is an old story about a farmer’s son who wanted to plow his father’s field. The father eventually agreed to let him try one day and told his son to look straight ahead at a far away object while he was plowing. This would result in straight rows in the earth. His son said he understood and so the father left. After a while the father came back to see how his son was doing only to find that the rows were not straight but curved and crooked. So, he walked out to his son and asked what had happened. The farmer eventually discovered that his son kept looking at a cow in the field. His eyes were distracted. This is a picture of our relationship with Jesus. True followers of Jesus constantly, continually fix their eyes on Him and keep them there through the urgent, the tragic, and despite the desire for wealth, comforts and acceptance in this life. In conclusion, Jesus is talking about our fitness to serve Him. It is a heart decision that counts. Failure to follow Jesus with a totally committed heart has cost many believers spiritual blessings and opportunities for greater ministry. But it is never too late to follow Jesus. And it is never too late to love without limitations, even when it seems hard. Strive to be just like Jesus with love, loving others unconditionally and forgiving others as Christ forgave and is still forgiving us as long as we confess and repent of our sins. Until next time folks, stay blessed!!
