The Bottom Line – 2nd Verse

When I thought of the idea of “The Bottom Line,” I checked my past blogs and sure enough, there was already one there by that title. (Check out the one written on September 24, 2020.) And sure enough, the bottom line is still the same: LOVE. But I decided that we could visit the subject again.

I’ve also written about patience, but I don’t know if I’ve linked the two. We all want patience, right? And we know that it can’t come without trials. But what if we prayed to be more loving? “Love is patient,” it says in I Corinthians 13, the “love chapter.” I pray to be more patient with the ones around me by loving them more purely and completely.

I marvel at those who choose a vocation of helping hard to love people. For me that would be working in a nursing home or a hospital or with handicapped children. It’s pretty easy to tell which workers are in it just for money and those who really love their patients. They excel at patience and kindness and tough love.

Isn’t that how Jesus lived? And isn’t He our model? How else could He have put up with those undeserving disciples that He chose to befriend? And are we any better than they? He chooses to love us, to befriend us, to teach us by His Spirit within us who opens the Word of God to our needy hearts.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” Jesus said (Matthew 22:37). That wasn’t anything new. He was actually quoting the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6:5). Jesus went on to say, “This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

Now there’s a challenge for all of us! Do we care for those around us as much as we care about ourselves? Is it all about us, or all about others? What would the world look like if everyone followed Christ’s mandate? What would our homes and our churches look like if we really followed through on this command from the Scriptures?

Will you join me today in praying for love to dominate our minds and hearts? Isn’t that the bottom line for all of life?

“Love” from “Listen”