Jesus tells us, “Love the Lord your God” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Two commands. Both are to love. Yet, love seems to be a naturally occurring virtue, a quality we don’t often focus on, especially in our family. We tell our husband and children every day that we love them. It’s not something we even have to think about doing. We certainly don’t believe loving others is as difficult as having patience or self control. However, for Christians, love is the mark of maturity. But are we really loving others as God would have us love them? When […]

In Jesus’ day, people brought gifts to the priests as a way of showing God their gratitude and love. Today, our gift to God is our entire life. Romans 12:1 tells us to offer our bodies a living sacrifice to God. And Jesus has set before us the standard of love for others. Remember that song, “They will Know we are Christians by our Love?” I once had a falling out with someone. I really was fine with the whole thing. But the other person was not. Whenever I tried to pray and become intimate with God, I would feel […]

I’ve heard many, many commentaries on love and what Jesus meant when He told us to love one another. Years ago, I wholeheartedly agreed with the idea that love is a decision, not a feeling. The concept that love is expressed more out of choice than emotional sentiment made sense to me. I went along with that until…I got cancer. It was weird how it all happened. One day I found out I might have cancer. The doctors couldn’t tell for sure because the tumor was so small and the needle-like instrument didn’t reveal much. I was newly pregnant so […]