Love is A Decision NOT An Emotion***

The Holy One calls to me this morning: 

"Remember, love is a decision not an emotion"….

The truth is sometimes difficult to grasp in our emotionally charged flesh life.  So many of us have missed the mark and moved the target to be justified in seeking a happy rather than a "Holy" place in our relationship with others.
 
This morning the Holy Spirit speaks to me and to all who are struggling in relationship issues with His reminder that love is a decision not an emotion....and…. commitment to that decision will be emotionally challenged. The faithful will stand firm in their decision even and especially during the hard times. 

We have an amazing model of that Love in the person of Jesus Who is so committed in His decision to love us that He died so that we, in spite all our flawed and sinful and utterly unlovable failures, can spend the rest of eternity with Him.

We are called to love one another in that same way. Choose to love. Decide to love... and do not let emotions get in the way! Thank you Jesus for showing us what true love is all about.

 John 15:12, "This is My commandment that you love one another as I have loved you". 

Thinking about the Martyrs dying daily for their decision to love. Thinking about less than perfect marriages where the faithful are dying daily to their own happiness for their decision to love. Thinking about the community of believers called the church who are dying daily in their own (righteous but debatable) opinions for their decision to love.

Our decision to love will cause heartburn. Our decision to love with cause humiliation. Our decision to love may even cause our physical death. But if we are true followers of Christ we have made a decision to love and on that decision we will stand, bearing with the scruples of the weak (errors arising from the weakness of mind spoken of in Romans 15) and in defiance of the temptation to abandon ship or marriage or church.

For those of us who have been rejected or persecuted or dismissed as of lesser value, the decision to love can be most difficult on a human level, but this is where the ultimate love for our Lord has the greatest victory as in forgiveness.
 
The decision to love Jesus is seen in our choice to love the world of people and in situations where He has placed us, not because of how they react to us personally but because love for Jesus is the decision we have already made.

Every day our love for our Lord may be challenged, but the faithful will stand firm.

The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?