One time I was called to the front of a New Years celebration gathering and the pastor prophesied over me that I was a person with great charity. I always loved the "love chapter", I Corinthians 13, but I didn't really understand or necessarily agree with him. I must say that to tell me that I am to LOVE others is the hardest thing for me to do.
Many years ago, the Lord impressed on me Matthew 22:37-40 and my search for what God means by "love" began. I first sought God to understand what it truly means to love Him with all my heart, soul, and mind. Then when I felt like I got a good grasp on that, I asked Him what it means to loves others as myself. I must say that God is still working on me how to love others as myself, though. That's a hard concept! Really! Think about it! Then there are so many scriptures that talk about loving your enemies, etc. Whew!! It's a BIG challenge for me to LOVE the way God intends for me to love.
So, I decided to go back to the original word of charity used in the King James translation in I Corinthians 13. Then, if you look up charity in the concordance you find the Greek word is Agape and the meaning is "love-feast". That word stuck out to me like a sore thumb. LOVE-FEAST! A feast of love! I love a good feast, especially when it includes food and dessert! My heart has always been set on food. I had more fights with my dad concerning food when I was child than anything else I think. On one of my first dates with Jeremy, he told me to buy anything on the menu that I wanted and I took full advantage of that and ordered Alligator bites from the Kodiak! Poor Jeremy paid about $50 for my meat, but he won my heart! So, when I hear the word feast I automatically like it, but here it means a feast of love, not of food. Hmm, that's a hard one for me because I recently discovered from a 40 day fast from sweets that I am addicted to anything sweet. But, love-feast means I am to feast on Love the way I prefer to feast on food. That's a challenge for someone who finds it very hard to love people. I always preferred to look down on people and judge them for their decisions, but I've learned that I need NOT to judge but LOVE instead. I need to feast on LOVE! This is the two greatest commandments after all.
Matthew 22:40 states that these 2 commandments sum up all the Law of Christ and the Prophets. So, if we just try to fulfill these 2 commandments to the fullest of which Christ intended then we will fulfill all that Christ wants from us. That is pretty amazing to me. Think about all the different laws and commandments and rules that Christ speaks of in the Bible. It is overwhelming! But, instead of being overwhelmed to try to fulfill each one of them on their own, I just focus on Loving God and Loving People. SIMPLE! Well, it sounds a lot more simple than remembering all He says, but in reality it is extremely difficult to live it out.
This is my "life" - to learn to Love God and Love People. I want to have an everlasting Love-Feast, anyways, I want Christ to teach me how! I know I fail most of the time, but I won't quit trying!
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