Where does your love come from?
When I read this, my first response was to pray for a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. Because my first reaction is usually "what can I do"? Those are not bad things to ask for, but as I read further I kept being drawn back to this verse. Paul's desire is that believers be filled with love from these things.
I started thinking about where my love comes from. As a little girl, I had this misconception of where love came from. Due to some hurts in my life I became confused about what love looked like. I convinced myself, and accepted Satan's lie, that when I was the best, when I was doing it all right, when I performed just the way someone expected, then they would love me.
Unfortunately, those misconceptions followed me into adulthood. They really made it hard for me to grasp and accept God's grace, that God's love for me wasn't based on anything I did, but was all based on what God did for me. That he freely, without strings attached, sent his son to die for me. That was something just beyond my grasp.
Thankfully my faith and relationship have grown over the years, and continues to grow. So I can see how different love looks when it comes from a pure heart. A heart whose motives are not to people please. A heart that isn't searching for its worth in others. Love that comes from a clear conscience, not one motivated by guilt because I didn't get it right. Not one crippled by shame or regret from the past. Love from genuine faith. Faith that says God I still don't understand it all but I trust you. Faith that says not my merit God, but your love alone.
When God's love fills my heart with these things, the love that pours out is totally different. My actions and reactions are different. I don't react from emotions, I react from faith. The way I treat others is different. Even the relationship I have with Christ is different.
Where does your love come from? I hope it is a love that begins and ends in the arms of my loving heavenly Father.
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