It’s all about love. Full stop. It’s about you knowing how completely, and divinely loved you are, and how to love everyone. The first part gets you to the second part. Until you get how much God loves you, you’ll never really love others like you could, and should.

Does that make you squirm a little? It did me, because I wasn’t a natural lover. I put people at arm’s length and smiled from a distance. But then I started reading the Bible like my life depended on it, because it does. I learned some things.

Like: “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ (Matt 7:21-23) You can’t know Jesus and not love. The very reason He sacrificed Himself was out of love (John 3:16). If you know Jesus, then you are connected with His love and it will be part of you.  If you don’t love, then take a good, hard, reality check look at your faith and ask yourself if Jesus knows you.

Then take a look at I Corinthians 13. Read that a few times and let it sink in that God values love over just about everything. How do you walk the extra mile? How do you give your coat, your sweater, your jacket and your shoes? How do you forgive over and over and over again? It’s not about scoring Brownie points; it’s about living out of love because you honestly feel it.

But what if you come to that scary realization that you don’t love at all? Maybe be a tiny bit, but not like 1Cor 13? You repent. You hit the floor on your knees and you pour your heart out to God and tell Him what’s really inside you. You ask Him to forgive you, then you hand the whole mess over to Him. Then you ask Him to fill you with His love, everyday. Ask Him to show you what His love looks like. Ask Him to show you how much He loves you. Then look for situations where you consciously respond in love. Don’t do it because you think you’ll score points with God. Look at that person and see how your kindness will help them and bless them. Let it touch your heart.

Taking a good honest look at your soul should compel you to ask God to change you to be more like Him. And that will always look like love.