All You Need is Love

First of all, I am SO SORRY that I have not been able to update lately. I have a lot going on in my life - all good stuff, with school and the Bible study that I lead and the ministry I am involved in - but I haven't had much free time in general, much less time to sit down and write.

I hope that your school year is going well so far! I pray that you have found your identity in Christ, not in the opinions of your classmates, and that you are looking to the Word for truth. You girls can be such a light in your dark schools (public OR private), and I hope that you are living it out for Christ. It's not always easy to make the right decisions concerning friends or parties or movies or boys - I know it's hard, I've been there - but I want you to know that you will be blessed and rewarded for living your life for Christ.

Something I have been really challenged by lately is loving others. I am involved in a ministry called Campus Crusade for Christ (Cru for short), and the past couple of weeks I have been meeting freshmen and other people who haven't been involved and inviting them to come to our weekly meeting (worship and a speaker) and to join Bible studies. I have been praying that God would give me a love for them so that I am wanting them to be involved because I love them and want them to grow closer to God.

John 13:24-25 says, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." According to this Scripture, one of the most powerful testimonies that we can give is by our love for other Christians. On the surface, you'd think that would be easy, but there are always people in our lives who rub us the wrong way. Or maybe they don't even respect us and love us, so we don't think it's worth it to try to love them. Matthew 5:46-48, though, says, "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you green only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

It's easy to love people who love us back. But anyone can do that. As a Christian, we are called to love everyone. Love isn't just an emotion or a feeling - it is displayed in actions. 1 John 3:18 exhorts us to "let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." I want other to see Christ in me through the way I love others - whether it is by giving my full attention in a conversation or choosing to spend time with someone whom I don't know very well or even praying for and encouraging someone that I don't get along with.

I challenge you to look at the relationships in your life - how well are you loving others? Are you reflecting Christ's love for us by the way you treat the people around you?