Food for the Soul

Tis the season...for giving, for snow, for family, for lights and decorations, for crowds, for hustle and bustle, for greediness, for very little patience...

It's always crazy to me that during what should be the happiest and most hopeful season of the year, people can turn into the rudest and most unkind beings ever. Our schedules are overflowing with activities and then we add the stress and pressure to shop and get the best deal and do it all by certain deadlines. This tends to put even the nicest person over the top.

So when our own schedules are filled to the brim and we feel the same pressures, how do we not succumb to becoming mean and rude as well?

There is a verse that has come up in my conversations and studying over the past few weeks. It is also the verse that I think provides us with a way to combat the urge to give in and give someone what they may or may not deserve.

John 13:35 says "They will know you are My disciples by your love." I strongly desire to be known as a disciple of Jesus. I want my life to reflect Him. From this verse we see that the key to a life set apart as His disciple is easily defined by LOVE.

Easier said than done at times. But when LOVE is given through a genuine smile to the elderly man sitting alone in the coffee shop, by letting the person in a rush go ahead of you in line, by thanking the Salvation Army bell ringer (not just quickly putting in a dollar or not even making eye contact as you rush by them), by helping the harried mother of 3 whose youngest is throwing their paci or blanket on the floor, etc...you make a difference. We have all been in a situation where it would take little to no more time to do the LOVING thing. And really, what's 30 seconds, or even longer in the grand scheme of things?

LOVE can be conveyed in so many ways, big and small. LOVE can define us, it should define us. If someone watched our lives for a period of time, they should see a life that is different from this world. Because LOVE is not just love, it is God working in us and through us to be LOVE (His reflection) to the world.

I challenge you in the busyness of this season to commit John 13:35 to memory. God gave us His perfect Son as a gift, the greatest gift ever given. If we receive this gift we then have the privilege and responsibility to give it to others. He is LOVE. And when we LOVE as He LOVED, then they will know we are His disciples.