BIBLE: Love Is A Choice

First, read Luke 10:25-37.

As a Worship Pastor, I have sat down with many of the artists I've had the privilege of pastoring, and I've heard them say something like this, "You can't help who you love."  Or, "It just happened!  I didn't WANT to love that person!"  If you're like me, you've probably even said something like that YOURSELF!  It's on television, in the movies, printed in books and magazines, and all across social media.  We're told that we need to find our own truth.  That our purpose depends on what is best for us.

I will agree that each of us are made as individuals.  We are made uniquely with diversity in mind.  That was always the intent.  We are "fearfully and wonderfully made" according to Luke 139:13-14.  We have a purpose and a calling that we are each supposed to fulfill.  BUT!  There is a commonality that binds us all.  There is a foundation on which our diversity and uniqueness is to be built.  Isaiah 64:6 tells us that any purpose, and calling, any "righteousness" is like a filthy rag without Christ.  So in order for anything we do, our works, to make any difference at all to God, there must first be the common foundation of a relationship with Christ.

In the scripture I asked you to read, the expert in religious law asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life.  Look again here at verse 27 as the expert recounts what we now call the Old Testament law.  And he was right, according to Jesus!  In order for everything to make sense, for all our works to be counted, we must FIRST love God, then love others!!!

But now let's stop right there!  How is that possible?  If we are to find our own truth, according to the media and what's popular, and if we can't help who we love, then how can we CHOOSE to love God and love others?!?  AND, that last part actually says to love neighbors as MYSELF, so I have to love ME too!!!

Michelle and I were watching a Podcast of Bishop TD Jakes tonight on TV.  He said something that just HIT me!!!  He said, "Love is controllable.  God could not be considered to be a just God were He to command us to do something we can not do."  Oh WOW!!!  Bishop Jakes woke up a whole new thing within me as God used him to speak into my own heart.  Do you understand what God is implying here by His command to us to love?!?  He is saying that we CHOOSE who we love!!!  If we choose to love Him, we choose to love others.  We choose who our mates will be.  We choose our friends.  Love is a CHOICE!!!

And did you see how cool Jesus answers the question in our main scripture passage?  When the expert recounted to love God and love our neighbor, the lawyer wanted to know who was classified as our "neighbor?"  That's when Jesus delivers the story of the Good Samaritan.  Samaritans and Jews didn't talk to each other!  Ancestors of the Hatfields and McCoy's, these two nations!!!  Yet Jesus showed a CHOICE by the Samaritan to have compassion on this hurt Jew and care for him.  This was the kind of choice on whose shoulders could ride the reconciliation of two peoples.  Remember at the end of ROCKY IV when Rocky was being interviewed by the Russian announcer after just knocking out Ivan Drago?  He said, "If I can change, and you can change, then maybe we ALL can change!"  It's a choice.

And the part that I only touched on earlier isn't by any means the lesser of the lessons here.  We are to choose to love ourselves.  According to this scripture, we can't love others until we love ourselves first! Otherwise, who are we going to love our neighbors AS?  Just to get you thinking.

I'm reminded of ol' Joshua in the Old Testament telling his people to choose that day who they would serve, but, he said, "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."  So who you gonna love today?  Choose now.  :-)