"love like you've never been hurt"
Just walking through Fred's on my lunch break, when the above saying caught my eye. I was looking for some new wall art for my bedroom and there it was, a pretty plague with that saying scrolled across it.
Wasn't something to purchase, but the words sure stuck with me.
Moments throughout my life, I've been tempted to stop showing love to certain individuals. A person who perhaps hurt me, betrayed me or just showed me a little bit of cold shoulder. It is my tendency to withdraw after such experiences. Why should I be a friend to them? Why should I open my heart to them? When all I get in return is rejection or indifference?
When you love someone, you open yourself up to hurt. An offending remark from a stranger is easy to brush off, but when it comes from a dear friend, it stings. Loving someone makes you the lover, vulnerable.
Honestly, I don't like being vulnerable.
My natural response is so say "no thanks;" to love someone without opening my heart to them.
Then my spirit reminds me, "Christ loved you by opening Himself up to you, when you still rejected Him." God loved me before I loved Him. He made Himself vulnerable to hurt and shame on my behalf!
While I'd rather just love someone simply without being deeply involved, Christ wants me to love as He loved. Yes, I may get hurt in the process - but then I can share in the "fellowship of His sufferings." (Philippians 3) It's still not an easy choice, but it is the right choice.
Choose to Love.
Unconditionally.
 |
| choosing love.... |
Great Post, Barrie, and one I needed to read today.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carole. Glad it was a blessing.
DeleteSo true. Loving another makes your heart vulnerable to hurt and pain. But its when we set up barriers in an effort to protect ourselves, that we separate ourselves from the riches of Christ and the fulness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19
ReplyDeleteLove is the very thing that brings joy into our lives, why is it that it can also cause us the most pain?
So true. When we love, we experience the fulness of God. Such a blessing.
DeleteLove is such a complex thing in some ways.... pain still stems from the fact that sin is in the world. We love someone, but they chose sin and because of our love for them, that hurts. Or we hurt when they are no longer with us on this earth.
The joy that love brings supersedes the pain though I think, and make it worth the heartaches.
Thankful that God's love is a joyful one! and is unconditional and unchanging.
Wow Barrie I needed this right now! Thank you! :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad it was a help to you. Definitely something God is still working on me about. :)
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