Loving Faith

“Faith makes all things possible; Love gives all things purpose !”

How many of us know someone who married for Love, but did not remain married because of Love? I always thought that Love conquered all! Perhaps we've had that statement backwards. Maybe its not about Love conquering all, but more about Faith connecting all. There is no question that Love is the most important thing we need in life.

It is also pointed to as THE most important thing in the Bible. Paul tells us that, "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." [1 Corinthians 13:13]

John tells us that, "Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." [1 John 4:8]

Jesus himself shows the importance of Love when he says, "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. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” [Matthew 22:36-40]

So, if Love is so great why do so many of today's relationship end? Shouldn't Love be what keeps them together? Now its easy to say. "Well that shows they truly didn't love each other," or "There was never really any love in that relationship to being with."

I think that is a little unfair for anyone to make such judgement on people's relationship's because we don't know what was or is there. We do not know how those couple's really felt about each another. However, what we can help with is understanding the connection that exists between Love and Faith. By understanding this connection can we then Empower our relationships!

Let's first go back to what we've been talking about in regards to Faith. To summarize it, I've said that Faith is more about Faithfulness than it is about belief. Or to say it another way, Faith is more action, not attitude. Now I want you to hold on to that for just a moment, and let's look at this word Love.

In Hebrew, the word for Love is Hava, which comes from the root word Ahava אהבה that simply means “to offer” or “to give”. One of the most well known passages in the Bible is the one about Loving your neighbor as yourself. When Jesus talks about it in Matthew 22, he is referencing back to the Commandment God gives in Leviticus 19:18.

The commandment to love is immediately preceded by prohibitions against taking revenge and bearing a grudge. At some point, we all hurt other people—intentionally or not—and then hope fervently that our victims not take revenge or bear us a grudge. To love our neighbor as ourself means, therefore, to act toward others as we would like them to act toward us.

“Carrying resentments is like letting someone whom you don’t like live inside your head rent-free.”

The failure to show love to others reveals not only an emotionally stingy nature, but also a denial of the biblical teaching that the people we encounter are, like us, created by God in His image and should be treated as such. While the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” is explicitly stated, a moment’s reflection reveals that this verse suggests an implicit command as well: to love ourselves.

A person who has low regard for themself is unlikely to consistently carry out the injunction “as yourself” in a loving way. Consider, has there ever been an abusive parent with a decent self-image? This is why even if self-love does not come naturally or easily, we are obligated—for the sake of others as well as ourselves—to cultivate a sense of self-esteem and liking.

A sense of personal well-being and accomplishment tend to translate into a more joyful and accepting attitude toward others, including family members. However, when we are feeling unsure of ourselves and self-critical, we often become more disapproving and less forgiving of others. How can we expect someone to love us, if they do not have a love for themselves.

Perhaps, the starting-point for love begins with self-love. If someone is struggling with insecurity, self-doubt, and just an overall lack of faith and confidence in themselves, is it any wonder why they would struggle with loving someone else?

You cannot love someone else until you learn to love yourself.

How can we love the next person effectively before we have learned to love ourselves unconditionally? When you love yourself conditionally, you cannot love another unconditionally, because why give someone else something you do not have? Our understanding of self-love is learned during childhood from those that cared for us. In most cases, it is taught unconsciously; we just got a glimpse from watching those that nurtured us.

Self-love comprises four aspects: self-awareness, self-worth, self-esteem and self-care. Now here is where we make the connection between Faith and Love. Each one of these four aspects requires a person to Do these things. In other words, to be faithful in seeing that we accomplish them. If a person does not have faith in themselves, how can they have faith in God?

If a person does not faithfully practice self-love, they will not faithfully walk in love of their neighbor who they can see, which means, they are going to have a really hard time loving God who they cannot see. So here is what I want you to do this week...

Start out with faithfully practicing just the first of these four aspects, self-awareness. Self-awareness is being aware of your thought processes: your thoughts, how they affect your emotions, and how emotions cause you to act. Are you aware of the thoughts that make you feel angry and make you act impulsively? Where are they coming from, and why are they there? Why do they cause you to act the way that you do? The same applies to what makes you happy.

Why does it make you happy? It is stepping out of yourself to examine yourself. Self-awareness is the key to emotional intelligence. What makes you mad might not stop making you mad, but you will know how to respond effectively or how to not respond at all. People with high emotional intelligence have emotions just like we do. But they step out of their emotions to process them effectively. This also includes moving away or avoiding situations that you know will trigger certain undesirable feelings and reactions within you. If you cannot move away or avoid the situation, self-awareness enables you to redirect the energy you are putting in those emotions.

One way to improve your self-awareness is to keep a journal of your thoughts, emotions, and actions. To begin to experience love, and to better understand faith, you need to begin with Empowering yourself. Love is the end result of one's faithfulness!

Join our newest group entitled "Empowered" and take that next step!