Meeting Recap: Its All About LOVE

Be in prayer for the women who were unable to make it to our MOPS meeting this morning. I know there is some sickness going around.....and when the mama is sick, it makes caring for sick babies even harder!

We had a speaker today who talked to us about our very theme: LOVE as if your life depended on it. Love is something that we do not talk a lot about.....and if we examine HOW and WHY we are loving, or attempting to love people, it is very telling!

We know that the Lord says "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength." In light of this, we better learn how to LOVE correctly! This self-examination can be hard......but it can be so freeing as well! We need to learn to love both earnestly and intensely.

Our verse for the year: I Peter 4:7-11 says:

LOVE each other as if your life depended on it. LOVE makes up for practically anything. Be quick to give a meal to the hungry, a bed to the homeless-cheerfully. Be generous with the different things God gave you, passing them around so all get in on it: if words, let it be God's words; if help, let it be God's hearty help. That way, God's bright presence will be evident in everything through Jesus, and He'll get all the credit as the One mighty in everything- encores to the end of time. Oh, yes!

What kind of LOVE is this? This is Agape love which is the love the the Lord has for humankind. 

For example. When our child looks like this, it is likely time for that child to have a nap.

 Does he want a nap? No. Do he think a nap would be good for him? No. BUT, because we LOVE him, we know that the best thing he needs is a nap! God knows what is best for us, even when we do not understand, or even when we think we know better than Him what is best for us! He AGAPES us! 

What kind of "lover" are we?

 Extension Cord:  We are drawing love from people- not actually loving, but taking all the time. A more mature love is a giving type of love.

Empty Cup: We have a "fill me up" mentality. We want others to meet our needs.

The problem remains that we are looking out instead of up for our fulfillment. We need to break out the bottom of that cup.....or drill some holes into your cup like a planter......and allow God to flow THROUGH you. That is how to properly love. Christ wants to live and love through us and we need to allow Him to do that.

Here are some questions to ponder as we think more about this subject of love in our lives:

1. Can I see ways that I have been an extension cord, or an empty cup, or have had unrealistic expectations?

2. Can I see ways that I have morphed my desires?

3. Am I willing to repent?- to stop asking people to do what only God can do?

4. Am I willing to believe I am who God says that I am now?

5. Am I willing to receive from God so I can, above all else, love others deeply?