{Be Loving} the number one thing you need to do in order to love better

Suitcases and bunk beds line the walls. Notebooks, bibles, and guitars fill each room. Strings of lights are hung and there are flowers on the dining table. Laughter erupts from the living room as every chair and couch are filled with people eager to love like Jesus does.

Currently, there are two houses that hold approximately forty total twenty-somethings in Southern California. Most of us came out of YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and all of us responded to God’s calling on our lives to be wild, willing, and ready to live lives of surrender. We have given up jobs, school, comfort, personal space, the list goes on an on. In the house I live in, twenty-four people dwell together. The girls rooms have up to six people in them. The men’s rooms have up to eight. There are no closets, three bathrooms, and one common area.

This only makes me more in awe of the transformation Jesus does in our hearts.

In the age range that most of westernized culture would deem as the most selfish and self-seeking, we are trying to live as selflessly as we can serving God.

This requires a shift in our everyday culture and it has become so apparent to me how much this culture shift is necessary in order to live out of love.

Let me continue to paint a picture for you. Half of the house is men, half is women. There is one tv and a whole lot of sports fans but someone wants to watch a movie. There is one stove but ten people who are hungry and tired. There are two bathrooms but one is out of toilet paper and the other someone is showering in. This is the messy beauty of community.

In the midst of the chaos someone is playing guitar worshipping Jesus. Others are praying in the hall for someone who is visiting the house. A couple people are at the table reading the Bible together reflecting on how amazing God is. 

How does this calm remain in the midst of what from the outside would only look like a storm?

Love.

His love.

So how do we love better?

We need to know that first and foremost our love comes from God.

Stop and take a moment to meditate on that. God IS love and He is dwelling in us though the Holy Spirit. We have been given to access to love that is beyond ourselves in order to live with one another, to bear each others burdens, and ultimately to love together. If love comes solely from ourselves, we will run dry, we will get frustrated, and we will be seeking something in return. When we love from the Love of God, our cup overflows. Love comes naturally without inhibition.

In knowing that our love comes from God, we:
1. Acknowledge our weakness and give Him glory
2. Put ourselves aside, therefore put others first
3. Love from a place that will make people ask, “What’s so different about you?”
4. Take risk and abandon our comfort zone
5. Love greatly!

I challenge you to love from the place He has allowed us to, not to rest on what you can do on our own. It can be simple as buying a candy bar for the checkout person at the grocery store or it can take more of a step like praying for someone on the street or giving more than you are comfortable with.

God never said this would be comfortable – are you ready to donate your love?

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.

1 John 4:7