"Don't just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other."
Romans 12:9-10 (NLT)
Genuine love--real love--honest love--Godly love is a love we all seek and desire. It is also love we are instructed in Romans 12 to give. It is a love that is the same for an enemy as it is for a best friend. It is a love that doesn't change because of a circumstance that does change. It is a love that is constant even if it isn't returned. It is a love that remains even if a relationship doesn't.
When we really love someone, we love out of God's heart. He has lavished His love upon us so that we can love one another. Really, genuinely loving someone means we put them before our own needs and wants. Really, genuinely loving someone is giving without expecting anything in return. In fact, if we genuinely love someone, then it wouldn't change based on the condition of whether or not that person loves us in the same way back. This doesn't mean that if we are being abused or taken advantage of by another person that we should continue to allow that kind of behavior to continue; rather, it means that we continue to love that person with the same genuine affection even in spite of the abuse or the advantage taking. Those kind of relationships may fall apart or change because of that behavior, but our love for that person should not fall apart or change.
Really love someone today. Take delight in honoring another person, not yourself, today. Respond to the love God has so richly given you by honestly, authentically loving others. Not only will you have love overflowing in your heart, you will also have joy.
"We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love. God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them."
1 John 4:16 (NLT)
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