Cairo: Jesus in Egypt & God's Unusual Leaning
God seldom gives us all we need to understand, but He always gives us what we need in order to obey. The story of Jesus in Egypt as a boy offers a...
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Sep 5, 2017 11:00:02 PM
Have you ever noticed how we dedicate so much time and money to feed feelings that last only a moment? Think about your upcoming weekend for a moment and see if it isn’t true.
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Nothing wrong with any of these activities, per se. But when joy and satisfaction in life elude us, we need to ask an obvious question with a not-so-obvious answer: How do we deal with the futility of life when my satisfaction always fades?
Eventually we figure out we can’t exist for the next relationship or vacation or pat on the back. Instead, we need to learn to live for what never fades and what always satisfies.
The Apostle Peter wrote:
Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart. —1 Peter 1:22
See the word “love” twice in that one verse? Why would God tell those already loving one another to “love one another”?
We’re dealing with two kinds of love.
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The first “sincere love” speaks of how you feel toward something or someone who pleases you.
If you think about it, the vast majority of relationships center on this love of feelings, leading many to speak of themselves as “falling in and out of love.” The same is true of all relationships. A love based on feelings never brings lasting satisfaction, because they are always changing.
To our “feel-good” love we should add another kind. This second love stands rooted, not in feelings toward someone, but in the genuine value of someone.
Ask yourself an honest question: “Do I show love to others only when they make me feel good?”
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Think of your home, your work, and your friends from years gone by. If the answer to the question finds yourself showing love only when you receive it, perhaps you have discovered the reason you struggle so hard for lasting satisfaction.
Into your love of pleasure, add the love God describes as patient, kind, not jealous, not arrogant, not selfish, not provoked, a love that bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things—a love that never fails (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
We all wants a love that lasts—until we discover what that love will cost us.
If you allow someone to love you, that love will take you to painful places. —Henri Nouwen
But we have no other course if we want something real—a love that never fails. God commands us to go beyond feeling love for one another to showing love for one another.
So here lies both our secret and our obstacle to a lasting satisfaction: God reduces it to our will and our choice to show love even when we don’t feel like it.
Tell me what you think: What helps you show love when you don’t feel like it? To leave a comment, just click here.
This post is adapted from Wayne’s book, Waiting on God: What to Do When God Does Nothing.
• What do you do when the life God has promised you looks nothing like the life he has given you?
• If you find yourself waiting on God—or if you don’t know what God wants you to do next—this book offers a wise and practical guide to finding hope and peace in life’s difficult pauses.
You will discover what to do when it seems God does nothing.
Click here to leave a comment.
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