I’ve Lost That Lovin Feeling…

Romans 12:9-21 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation. Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Interestingly, as I was reading this scripture and thinking about the direction this blog could go, the phone rang with a sales call that we haven’t been able to stop. Immediately, my blood pressure surged, I had a hot flash and my voice became low and hateful. I spoke words with a tone of hate (“Take us off this list!”)… hit the end button… and threw down the phone.

Then… reread the above scripture…

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. Today it was a SPOTLIGHT… one that swayed back and forth, lighting every defect and providing no shadows to hide my dirty feet in!

I have indeed lost that loving feeling!

But maybe this is exactly my “training up in the way I should go”. Yes, this is Battle Strategy 101 (in my case probably 100,001)…

In the army of the Lord, the weapon of choice is always LOVE. Not the soap-bubble shooter of “feeling” love but the demon destroying assault weapon of God’s love. The kind of love that doesn’t distinguish between deserved and undeserved (except to give MORE to the undeserved). The kind of love that forgives and gives more as the crown of thorns is hammered into the skull and the whip tears off skin as it digs into the body with every lash. The kind of love that moves forward toward the cross in the midst of the cheers of the enemy.

Battle Strategy… put on Jesus Love!

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;

Step One… KNOW LOVE! Love is not a feeling! Love is an action – a verb – an ongoing, unconditional, walk of righteousness.

If love depended on feelings we would NEVER DO LOVE. We might pretend we care. We might even have moments of actual rocket blasting infatuation that may lead us to care for more than a minute.

But love… REAL love is based upon a vow… a lifetime commitment to pay forward what we have been given.

Step Two… RECEIVE LOVE! I can only give the kind of love I have received. Most of the love given in this world (if not all) is temporary, conditioned on the benefit to “me”, and wrapped with the fake bling of dramatic theater meant to impress and convince.

I think there is a human conspiracy (instigated by our enemy – Satan and  his minions) to define and promote love as whatever it takes to make you a slave. I think we have lived with this for so long that we do not recognize and receive TRUE LOVE. We do not receive God’s love because it does not look like what we expect it to.

John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

Receive GOD”S LOVE! It is the love of freedom… it is the love of adoption as children of the most high God.

Ephesians 1:3-14 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory… This is JESUS LOVE!

Step Three… DO LOVE! Feelings aren’t bad… God gave us these soul tools to use as signal flags – much like they use at airports to safely guide pilots to and from the runways and the right gates for those they are carrying to their preferred destination.

But feelings were never meant to be the deciding factor in DOING… only one form of counsel and we know the Bible calls for MANY counselors.

God HAS feelings! But God IS love! It is passion that God felt when He created the world. It is passion that moved God to speak such majestic things into existence. But it is love that moves God to save us (even before we knew Him)… to make us His own!

I have no excuse to act as I did this morning to a stranger on the phone. Was I required to listen and buy the spiel? I would have to say NO… but love would not have acted like the brat I was being at the time.

I can only say…

“Father, forgive me for I know not what I do!”

But thank You that…

I’ve lost that LOVING FEELING… and I will choose to move forward with LOVING DOING!

**All Scripture quoted comes from the “Bible Gateway” app and is the NASB version of the Bible