What the world needs now is love, sweet love.
Love is a many-splendored thing.
Where there is love, there is life.
Love everyone always.
These are just a few of the phrases about love that permeate our lives. If God is love and our job as Godly Leaders is to point people to God, then surely our lives are all about love, right? For too many of us, too often, love is a phrase that we would want to describe ourselves, but it really doesn’t.
I love our church’s motto – Love Everyone Always. I love that. That is the essence, the backbone, of Christianity. Love Everyone Always. But, my friends, while that kind of love is essential, it’s not always easy.
Let me show you two ways that we often get sidetracked in loving everyone always.
#1 – Our default is disdain, apathy, or dislike, not love.
- Your spouse just made a really stupid purchase. Is your default love?
- Your kid just made a really stupid life choice mistake. Is your default love?
- You meet someone that is from the other side of the political aisle – strongly on their side of the aisle. Is your default love?
- Your child didn’t make a team or starting lineup that you know they should have made. You run into the coach of that team in the community. Is your default love?
- Warning – this one is tough, and you’ll be mad at me. Your friend is killed by a drunk driver, and you see their killer in court. Is your default love?
You see, friends, if the phrase Love Everyone Always is a real thing, then always and everyone are VERY hard words to comprehend. But, they are essential words to the Godly Leader that wants to default to love.
We would prefer that our call as Christ–followers was to Love Some of the People in My Life When They Are Worthy of My Love. We laugh at that, but isn’t it more true than the initial phrase Love Everyone Always?
John 15:12 tells us to “love each other as I have loved you.”
#2 – Our default is to speak the truth in….er….to someone else.
Ephesians 4:15 tell us, “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head, that is, Christ.”
Did you catch that? We grow in our faith when we speak the truth in love. There are two problems in many of our lives with that verse. First, we don’t speak the truth. We see a sin issue, a character issue, a bad decision looming, and we don’t say a word to the people in our lives. We are sinned against by people in our lives, and we don’t follow Matthew 18 (go look it up). We much prefer to speak the truth to someone else. That’s called gossip and is not following the pattern of love and the pattern of Ephesians 4:15.
Second, when we finally do say something about an issue to a family member or friend, it’s too often not in love. We are harsh, we are dismissive, and we drive a wedge. Love builds up.
Godly Leader, it is essential to Love Everyone Always.
- Make it your goal this week to pray about having a greater love quotient for the unlovable and those that are in your life that are difficult to love.
- Make it your goal this week to commit to speaking the truth IN LOVE the next time a difficult situation arises and not to avoid it or speak to someone else in a gossipy manner about it.
Love builds up. Love covers a multitude of sins. The greatest of these is… love.
We could talk much more on this topic, but we’ll leave it there for now. What are your thoughts or questions? Leave them in the comments. If you found this blog helpful or thought-provoking, please subscribe below to receive a new weekly blog in your email on Tuesday morning. Also, if you think this blog would be helpful for others, please share it on social media or tell a few friends about it!
Love being on this Essential Godly Leadership journey with you!
Essential Godly Leadership: “Leading your life, your family, your work, your relationships, and your world in a way that is seeking wisdom from, and pleasing to, the Lord Jesus.”