Hey. Well, so today I was doing some Christmas decorating as you can see. My little tree is twinkling brightly behind me. I was thinking about this idea of love. I’ve been talking to a lot of people that have been really hurt by people. I love people and so through the course of the discussions, one of the things that has come up is the question:
Is your love wasted if you love somebody so much for so many years even if they never really reciprocated?
Do they just love you back enough to keep you on the hook?
Do you feel like your love has been wasted and questioned?
I was praying about this and thinking about it and God just blew this wide open for me. I mean blew it wide open and of course it’s coming at a time where it’s a little difficult because I’ve been suffering with a lot of hair loss and I don’t mean to play my violin, but it’s hard. You have pretty hair and you’re losing two thirds of it and wow, you know, it’s like oh Lord. I don’t feel very lovable right now. It’s probably also being a little bit more vulnerable has made me think about this. But I wanted God to show me. Okay, is love ever wasted? He blew me out of the water with this thought.
He said, I want you to think back to when you were born again, and that was when I was 23 years old and what did you do between that time and when you dedicated your life to falling in love with me about 10 years ago. I just thought wow, I mean God continued to love me, even when I failed to acknowledge his existence. He continued to love me and give me good things and show me his goodness, even when I did things that brought shame to His name. He continued to love me when I ignored him. When I would pray to him and he would give me things and then I would just run along my way and never say, thank you. He continued to love me when I blamed him for my trouble. He just continued to love me when my sin was so terrible and I just trampled his love under my feet. He did that for years until I finally turned around and ran to him and really desired him like I do now. And believe me, I’m not saying I have arrived but he made it crystal clear.
If I think that my love for somebody else is wasted, I need to think about whether he has thought that way towards me and the fact is he hasn’t . He’s never given up on me and in fact, it was his goodness that brought me back to him and it wasn’t harshness or rejection. But it was his continued goodness that drew me back to him. Wow, and I thought you know what? God help me to have that view of love. Help me have that view that my love is never wasted. It doesn’t matter who I give it to. If you tell me to love somebody I’m going to love them because I have all the love that I need from you and by planting the seed it will grow. It will not necessarily look the way I think it should look or grow. Like I think it should grow. But it’s never wasted because it’s given in your name.
Jesus said a cup of water given in my name, right? And so I would say that applies to love too. He brought me back to First Corinthians 13:4-7 where it says love suffers long and it’s kind. In other words, it continues to give no matter what. It does not envy, it does not parade itself. It’s not puffed up. It doesn’t rejoice in iniquity. It bears all things, believes all things ,hopes all things and endures all things. That’s the kind of love we want, isn’t it? And that’s the kind of love God gives us and so that’s the kind of love we should give because Jesus says for us to love each other as I have loved you. That’s what he said. And if he tells us to do it, then he empowers us to do it.
And so I just thought that was so wonderful, the thought that I can love freely. I can love without that expectation because I’m doing it the way Jesus loves me. And so if you’re suffering from maybe feeling like you’re not loved as much in return as you’re giving away, don’t worry. God loves you even more than that, and he’s going to fill your cup so full of love that you won’t need what you think you need from somebody else. I hope this encourages you as it did me. Have a nice day and a nice night!
