Love

Wow, you might get really upset with me or start thinking I'm in love with this guy, but I'm gonna talk about President Obama for like the millionth time in my blog.

No, I don't actually like the guy. But hey, we all have to live with him.

Today in Sunday school, we talked about love. We split into 3 groups to answer three questions from three different verses to understand what they were saying about love. We were actually talking about sanctification though. That was the theme for today.

My group had these verses:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that?" Matthew 5:43-46

"But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." Luke 6:35

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

As hard as it is to do, we need to love our enemies and we shouldn't expect anything back. The verse we had that spoke to me the most was the first one. Not only do we need to love our enemies, but we need to pray for those who persecute us. Hard isn't it?

President Obama, the Democrat, is one example I think of constantly in this idea. I know a ton of people who aren't especially fond of him and want to get him impeached. You might think that the way I talk about him on my blogs, that I'm obsessed with him. This is just one of those places where I can talk to anyone about anyone and not worry about getting shut down to my face. I know that if I mention President Obama to my youth group friends, they will rip my head off. They're not fond of the choice America made.

But remember, it wasn't just America that made this choice, it was God too. We need to love Obama and not expect anything back. Not only that, but we need to be in prayer for his presidency and no, not praying that he'll get impeached.

We also talked about 1 Corinthians 13, my favorite chapter of 1 Corinthians. I don't remember this, but my Aunt Ann mentioned that on one of our mission trips, I taught her all about this chapter. I really don't remember doing that, but it was a while ago.

I like 1 Corinthians 13 a lot. It's just so poetic. It's beautiful. My favorite part of the chapter, is what I think the most poetic part of it is, is verses 4-7.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not eny, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

It just seems to have a poetic beat to it. My Aunt Ann mentioned today one thing I hadn't realized about love. Love can not be evil. It all makes sense to me now that:

If God is love, and love never fails and love is not evil, then God never fails and God isn't evil.

That's how my mathematical brain thinks sometimes.

Love everyone no matter what. The Bible says love your neighbor as you love yourself. That doesn't mean that you should only love your neighbors that you live around. A neighbor could be anyone. I know it's hard; I know that from experience, but we need to do this. The world is a messed up place. By loving our everyone including our enemies, we're setting ourselves apart from the rest of the world.