As I have mentioned in the past, my Bible study group is doing “Wising Up” by Beth Moore (www.lproof.org) . It is a study in the book of Proverbs and I am finding many areas in my life where I need to wise up.
Beth taught this past week on wise choices of friends and the material is extremely applicable in many ways. One of the verses that she used was Proverbs 17:17 which says, “a friend loves at all times”. Now, you and I know that verse and can easily quote it, but if you are like me, you may not have ever taken the time to truly apply it to your life. Beth gave us a catchy little sentence to remind us of this verse in the ‘heat’ of friendship and boy, have I ever had opportunity to use this phrase to remind me to love. It went like this: “I love you now, I’ll love you when, you’re hard to love, cause you’re my friend.” Say it with me again, “I love you now, I’ll love you when, you’re hard to love, cause you’re my friend.”
Each of us has people in our lives who are sometimes hard to love. You and I are sometimes hard to love! I know that comes as a shock to some of us, but the plain truth is that we can all be difficult to like and to love. Sometimes our husbands are hard to love, our wives are hard to love, our children are hard to love, our friends are hard to love, our cat is hard to love. Sometimes love is just hard to feel for another and this is where we must operate out of the overflow of the love of Christ rather than our own feelings.
Love is not a feeling, but rather a choice. There are moments when I don’t feel love toward my husband, but I choose to show him love because love is a choice. There are times when you may not like something your friend does and you don’t feel love toward them, but you must choose to show love because love is a choice. One day this past week, someone I love wrongfully criticized me and it hurt. I used the experience as an opportunity to dialogue with God and ask Him to show me if the criticism had any basis. I also spent a lot of time that day repeating “I love you now, I’ll love you when, you’re hard to love, cause you’re my friend” as a reminder that love is not a feeling, it is a choice.
I bet there are a lot of days when my Lord has to look at me and say, “I love you now, I’ll love you when, you’re hard to love, cause you’re my friend.” If He could die for me, knowing that I would live a life for so many years that would be in direct opposition to Who He is, then surely I can choose to love people in my life who are hard to love. If I want to look like Jesus to a lost world, then I will love, even when I don’t feel like it, because love is a choice.
“I love you now, I’ll love you when, you’re hard to love, cause you’re my friend.” – Beth Moore
