9/9/14

“Don’t stop Believin’…

…Hold on to that feeeeeeelin’.”

This famous Journey song has a point. I don’t actually know what the listeners were meant to continue believing in, but everyone I know has not only heard this song, but can also probably sing a few lines. Whether you’re at karaoke or a doctor’s office waiting room, you’ll hear a few people chime in on, “don’t stop believin’.” These encouraging words hit something inside us. No matter who you are, or what you’re trying to do, this message is important. We all have moments that are too hard to go on. We evaluate, we strive, we take life into our own hands, we give up, we stop, we are done. Some moments I don’t have any feelings or emotions that tell me to go on. And yet, something inside of me, if I let it, can say, “Don’t stop believing. Hold on to that feelin’…”.

At the beginning of a run, I have a very confident feeling that I can go 2 miles without walking. But then I’m running and I start to doubt. Towards the end, I’m almost certain I’ll have to stop. But if I bring to mind the confidence that I had at the beginning, if I take the feeling I had in the past, and HOLD ON to it, I find myself finishing. I can take a past feeling, and make it real for here and now, without actually feeling it. This is called believing.

We have to do this sometimes. Not just in exercise but in daily life, especially in relationships and love. We “feel” all sorts of things for each other. Impatience. Jealousy. Disgust. But I can tap into something greater, something beyond how I feel, and make the choices to love based on a Love placed inside of me by my Creator.

Imagine if we all loved each other like that?

Imagine if the world saw us loving like that?

If our message to the world was, “It doesn’t matter how I feel. I’m choosing to love. Always. All the time. Never ending. Never failing.”, it would be impossible not to see Christ in us.

But so often this is not the case. We give up just like everyone else. We don’t love just like everyone else. Where have we given up? Or, more likely, where have we not even begun to love?

There are some areas of love that seem too impractical to even try. “Love always believes? What a stupid thing to say. When there is no hope, I’m sorry, but I’m going to admit that there’s no hope.”  NO! The bible says ‘Love always believes!’ It doesn’t stop believing! It always hopes! It never loses faith! It never gives up!

Love is patient, love is serviceably kind, love is not jealous, and it does not boast. Love is not proud or offensive. It’s not self-seeking, and it’s not easily offended. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs, it doesn’t delight in evil, but it rejoices with truth! Love never gives up, never loses faith, always hopes, and always endures.

These things seem impossible, so we don’t even try. But here is your challenge: it’s time to love the way God does. Not just each other, but the whole world. If we actually loved like Jesus loved, we would be transformed, and the world might get to experience a little “heaven on earth”.

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