It's My Way or the Highway...Nope
Girls, are you ready to jump back into studying what 1 Corinthians 13 love is? I know I am, but first, I want to tell you sometimes the truth hurts, but as Christ followers, we want the truth from the Word of Life over just feeling good about ourselves or having our life how we want it. So let’s jump in.
“It (love) does not demand its own way.”
(1 Corinthians 13:5)
Love does not demand its own way. Uhh what? What about everything we’re told in our culture? Have it your way. You do you. It’s my way or the highway. Nope. That’s not Biblical girls.
So what does this mean? Girls, we use scripture to interpret scripture. So if we look at scripture, we see that this means that we submit to what the Bible says, even when we don’t want to. Even when it doesn’t feel good. When it’s not popular, accepted, or we just downright don’t want to. We still obey.
We ask the Lord to have His will and way. We humbly lay aside our natural desires and follow wholeheartedly after Him.
This is yet again another reminder that we are instructed to love others in an unselfish way. We are not only to look out for our best interest but for the interest of others.
“Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.” (Philippians 2:4)
Girls, this goes against EVERYTHING our culture tells you. In a selfie world, Jesus in the Bible tells us, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Matthew 16:24)
Is this easy? No girls, it’s hard. Really hard, but you know what? Here is our great hope, if we are God’s daughters and have a relationship with Jeus, we have the power of Christ in us. We have the same power that raised Christ from the dead living in us. Stop here, think about that. Let that sink in. Oh that we could believe that. That is how much Jesus loves us. He gave us the Holy Spirit and because we have the Holy Spirit in us, we are empowered to do this. We are empowered to live another way, a way that is truly supernatural.
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:13)
So girls, I know this may all seem so hard. I don’t want to sugar coat it because I think too many times people do. It is hard. It’s actually impossible without God. But with God, we are given what we need every single day to love others as He loves them because we are empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Will you take some time to pray what one of my sweet middle school friends asked me to pray for her? “Father, please help me to see and love people as you do.”
Girls, God hears us and He will do this! It’s a process of Him changing us internally, but if you ask anything according to His will, He will do it. How do we know His will? We read the Bible! The Bible tells us that the two greatest commandments are to love God and love people. That means that we can be assured that if we wholeheartedly ask in faith for Him to help us to love people and see them as He does, He will do this in us, in His perfect timing as we participate in the process of sanctification that He is working in each of us.
Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment and the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.” (1 John 5:14)
I don’t know about you but that makes me want to jump up and down, and also fall on my knees in worship and thank him. This is the Sovereign King we serve! He hears us! He knows us! He loves us, dear sweet sisters!