Why is this so hard?

This is the hard stuff....do it in this order and you will get it right!

Why is this so hard?  Loving God has always been fairly easy for me.

Maybe, a little more challenging during this crisis...as I scream I need answers at Him sometimes....but I never quit loving Him.  

He saved me, rescued me, changed me, brought life where there had been desolation.  Loving Him has never really been a problem.  

But love people, really God?  People hurt us, people betray us, people disappoint us.  And His answer is the same through the ages, love them anyway. 

Uuuuggghhhh......

People are so precious to God.  The word precious means:

1.

(of an object, substance, or resource) of great value; not to be wasted or treated carelessly.

"precious works of art"

People are His precious works of art, of great value and not to be treated carelessly.  I am His precious work of art....hhhhmmmmm.....I am feeling more like a Jackson Pollock lately.  Everything thrown at me has stuck in some way.  I feel like I wear my pain as colors splashed all over me, it won't wash off.  

That is okay...but back to this loving people thing....

It is all about order.

If I love God, truly love Him.  If I allow Him to meet my deepest needs it becomes much easier to love people.  As a matter of fact, it actually becomes a joy to love His people.  There is no pressure of response on their part because a healthy love of God creates a love for people not based on what they do or don't do but based on a heart that knows the heart of God and just long's to convey it to others.  Expectation free. 

I love God, His presence restores me, His love is unfailing, His heart is for me, He says I am His precious work of art.  I can love others well, when I understand that and need nothing in return from them.  Trickey hey?  It is the opposite of what the world says.....love and need nothing in return?  

The world would have us believe that love is all about what we need from that person, what they can do for us.... but love will always struggle in that enviroment.  

It won't ever satisfy if God hasn't come first.  

It isn't easy.  I've been hurt, like most of us by people.  People often stink and can be downright mean.  However, forgiveness has been poured out on me and I find it difficult to hold unto unforgiveness when I reflect on all the forgiving going on daily for me and my sins.  Hehehehe (just saying).

I am dying a little each day....dying to my flesh.  A dead person can't be hurt, right?  Being remade daily into His image.  

I choose to love God, and when I have spent time with Him; when He has filled me, touched me, healed me, then I can love people well.  

If I miss the first step, the next get's pretty darn messy.  It's not that I don't love people, it's just that I dont' do it well in my own strength.  

It's simple really, if we just get it in the right order and use His love as the example.  His love always does what is best for us, let's do what is best for others...a genuine love lived out,  that puts them first in every way. 

I can lay my life down for others, my pride, my expectations, my emotions, my stubborness, my flesh.....wow I could just keep on going on my unloveliness but I know that I am exchanging it for the lovely one's character so I will stop there....point being lay it down and be like Jesus, who loved above all circumstances and above all pain.  He has known all the pain and chose to love anyway.  He knew the betrayal and rejection that would come and still choose to love.  Pretty amazing isn't it? 

So today (and everyday) all around the world, let's love God with all our hearts and then let's love one another well out of the overflow!  

I know it's not always easy, but it wasn't easy to go the cross and He did it anyway.  We can do this.  Love God, love others, repeat.