November 25, 2024
Melissa Valerio
There are just too many things to be thankful for this year. How to narrow it down to just one? Well, I guess I don’t have to name just one. But probably at the top of my list is being thankful that God is love. I’m so thankful that God’s love emanates from within Him, and is not performance-based on us. It’s just His nature to love. His default way of operating. He cannot not love. I’ve heard so often that love is not a feeling, but rather, it’s a choice. It’s choosing to do what is best for the other person, no matter how you feel about them or what it costs you. And since we know that God has feelings, I can’t help but wonder that maybe, sometimes, He does things for us out of His great love and care for our wellbeing that are sometimes contrary to how He feels about us. Think of all the people who reject Him, slander Him, and ignore Him. He cannot possibly be happy with those people, and yet He still loves them. “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” as Matthew 5:45 puts it. He does this because He is doing what is best for all of us, regardless of how He feels about us (happy or disappointed).
There have been plenty of times when I’ve disobeyed God. In my natural humanness, I would have turned away from someone who constantly disobeyed, ignored, or neglected me. For sure, the last thing I would do is continue to do what was in their best interest. And yet this is His default. Love is not a feeling. Love is an action. Love continues to do what is BEST for that individual, regardless of how they treat you. It’s an incredible kind of love. What am I most thankful for this year? That Jesus’ love overruled His feelings that day on Calvary.
Prayer: Lord in Heaven, wow. What a crazy, devoted, radical kind of love You have for us. It’s a love that we cannot emulate on our own. You must come into our hearts and love through us if the world is going to experience this kind of love. Thank You for the best love anyone could ever receive. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Action: Jesus commanded us to love our enemies. Loving someone you’re not very fond of is a discipline that needs to be cultivated. It does not come naturally. Since love is not an emotion, think of a way you can love your enemy, even without having warm feelings for them. Perhaps it’s as simple as praying that God would do a great work in their lives.
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