I took a pill the other day that said "Be lovable." Well, not literally. At one of my bridal showers, the ladies each wrote marital advice on a piece of paper and rolled it up so it looked like a pill and put it in a prescription bottle. The advice to "be lovable" was intended to be directed towards my husband, but God didn't want me to only apply it to him.
The Bible tells us in several places to love each other, to put others before ourselves, to live selfless lives. Though we hear it continually, it is something that we as Christians continue to struggle with. I know lately God has been trying to teach me about loving others, and sacrificing my wants and preferences to put others before myself. It is a process.
But by the advice the other morning, God turned my thoughts from these commands to the other side. God commands us to love others and sometimes it is hard because people aren't very lovable, or we are just being stubborn. But my thoughts were turned to, "Am I, in loving others, allowing myself to be lovable?"
Lovable defined is of such nature to attract love. God continued to question "in your struggles with loving others, are you being lovable as part of your attempts to love them?" We can try to love people, but when we make life miserable for them in our unloveliness, is that really love?
The challenge that God has placed on my heart for this next week is as I continue to learn to love others, is to be intentional about making it easier for others to love me as much as possible by being lovable. Maybe that is something we all need to focus on as Christians as we, by God's grace, love others.
Thank you for this post Rachel. We hear the message to love a lot, but to be lovable is a good lesson. I think I needed to hear that.
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