Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Lazy Love

Remember those seeing eyes I was talking about?

Well, I think a pair of listening ears would help those eyes out a whole lot.

If you know me, you know I talk a lot. If you have known me for more than a short while, you know that I talk less than I used to, and have calmed down a bit. I also am more careful in what I choose to tell people. If there is something impactful happening in my personal life, I usually share details with close friends, but sometimes I keep them to myself until I have had time to process and discern whether or not it is worth sharing. Some details of our lives are intimate between us and God alone.

Other times, my lousy pride gets in the way of my best intentions and I disallow the Holy Spirit to restrict my speech and I just blurt out whatever I feel like saying.

Sounds kind of like...a clanging cymbal.

And that's the opposite of love, in case you aren't tracking with me.

My sister was reading 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, tonight, and in verse 1 it says,

"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."

This made me think back over my day...sadly, I cannot think of an instance today when I was actively concerned with others and made a conscious decision to let Christ's love flow through me and touch someone else.

That saddens me. I feel like a really lousy Christian. An imitator of Christ is NOT concerned with his/her own interests, but only with the interests of Christ.

Basically, in all of my talking about whatever I may have been talking about, I was being lazy in my love for others, and probably sounded like a clanging cymbal - or in other words, just like noise. By speaking rather than listening to the hearts of others through their words, I not only became deaf to the needs of others, but I also became blind to the ways in which Christ wanted to use me.

I used my gifts of sight and speech to be self-serving rather than people-serving. This is not what God created me for.

Tomorrow is another day. Another opportunity to deny myself and take up my cross to follow the One who rescues me from eternal death and a meaningless life on earth.

I am praying my heart will be softened and changed; I am praying that I may be humbled and shamed by my selfishness so that my love will not be lazy, but it will mirror the love Jesus taught us to have for each other.

I also pray for you - reader - that you may know this love and may give this love to others. Let's keep each other accountable, shall we?

love,
-s

1 comment:

  1. I need to work on this, too. I think the more time we spend with God the more we turn our eyes and ears towards Him and others. It's so easy to look at only ourselves when we aren't focused on the unselfish God that is always concerned about us. When we are focused on that, it's a lot easier to be self-less towards others.

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