Ok…confession time again.
For the last several months, probably right before we went into the holiday season, I have been in surgery.
Not physical surgery, but heart surgery as only the Lord can do.
Thank God, He is a Master surgeon and when He is finished, it’s done right!
I have been tempted to hop off of the operating table several times and run for my life because the process has been painful, to say the least.
He has walked alongside me to help me address, confront and process some things as it relates to relationships, pattens of behavior, habits that need to be hung up, etc.
When we are actively pursuing the Lord and desiring to become His best right NOW while waiting, the Holy Spirit comes in to do heart work, sometimes what the Bible may refer to as circumcision of the heart.
(It’s something I talked about in our previous online Bible study, Sitting At His Feet on Breathing Life Into Dead Things.)
One of the things, the Lord has been challenging me on while in my heart surgery is how I am measuring love.
Not by chance, I came across this scripture below that He dropped in my lap:
I was reminded of what it means to measure love from a Kingdom perspective especially as it relates to relationships with others.
Every time I am tempted to think I am loving others well, I have to remember that I am to measure how well I am doing by how the Lord has loved me, not how the other person is loving or treating me.
Am I patient, kind, gracious, easily forgiving, merciful, etc.?
The flip side of this is that I cannot truly love someone/anyone unless I first know and have received this love from Jesus Himself.
This week:
Ask the Holy Spirit to help you assess your relationships and those you are connected to in order to evaluate how you are measuring your love for them. If you find any inconsistencies with how He loves you vs. how you are loving them, ask Him to teach you how to change this.
Lady In Waiting 222 