Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. -1 John 4:8
Let’s be honest, love is sometimes hard. I was reminded of this recently when someone close to me was determined to keep me stuck in the past. In all fairness, she was hurt from this event as much as I was. However, a few years ago, I decided to face the past and let it go. My friend has not been able to do that yet. So, when I spoke positively about one of the people involved in the event, she rehashed every single detail of what that person did to us.
Her decision to remember the past was hurtful and started digging at old wounds. As she kept reminding me of the original offense, I wanted to hurt her as much as she was hurting me at that moment. However, God reminded me that sometimes the most loving thing you can do is let the other person win. To let her win meant that I had to deal with my ego and its need to be right. Even from a distance, someone else probably would have said that my choice to forgive the offender was the right choice. However, that does not mean I needed to prove that to my friend. So, finally, I let it go and I walked away from the argument.
I am not going to lie. That act of love was hard. I really wanted to be right, and I really wanted her to see my point of view. As I was stewing over it a few hours later, God said to me that he would deal with his child in perfect time. My job was to hold onto the peace of God and to continue loving that person.
A week later, I am so glad that I made the hard choice of love versus being right. God did deal with that person, very lovingly and very effectively. While she is not the type of person to apologize directly, she did send what I call a love tap through a mutual friend. So, I knew that we were good again.
While love can sometimes be hard, in the end, it’s worth the sacrifice. We won’t get it right 100% of the time, but God is faithful to help us when we bring the burden to God. So, join me during this month of love and allow God to show you how to embody 1 John 4:8. Get to know God by loving the way God desires us to love.
Prompt for Thought: Who do you need to love today? How will you love them? How will you allow God to help you love God’s way?
Prayer for the Journey: God, who is love, we come to you with our frail human attempts at love. We ask that you transform our imperfect love into your perfect love. When we falter, help us to find out way back to love. When we want to be right at someone’s expense, help us to choose love instead. God, please never let us forget your love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.