Selfless Love!

Something I have been thinking about.

I had never really understood the phrase "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me". I always thought that it was stupid, something little kids would say that did not really make any sense or something that people would say when they did not want to admit that something that was just said really hurt their feeling. I have come to realize that it actually makes perfect sense. It is also so very true. I mean, who really has the control of my feeling and emotions? I do, and if I don’t that is my own fault. If I don’t have control, it is because I have chosen to loss control or at least have not taken the steps to gain control to begin with. In Gal, 5:22-23 it even says that one of the fruits of the spirit is self-control. Can a person’s feelings really be hurt without permission from the one with the feelings? I do not believe so. So really this phrase makes a lot of sense. People can push me, pock me, beat me up, and wear my body out but they cannot touch what is underneath without my promotion. God has given us this unique and wonderful free will to choose. He has also promise to help with this if we ask. Phil. 4:13 says "I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

Eleanor Roosevelt said "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

No one but me can MAKE me feel mad. No one but me can MAKE me feel inferior. No one but me can MAKE me feel jealous. No one but me can MAKE me feel sad or hurt. No one but me can allow someone to manipulate my emotions. No one but me can MAKE me feel love for another. Only I am responsible for my own feelings. Only I am held accountable by God for my own feelings. We cannot control what people say to us. We cannot control how people treat us but we can control how we react and respond both inwardly and outwardly. Prov. 16:32 says that whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

If we truly love others then we will not allow even the most hateful word spoken by them to allow our reaction to them to be anything other than kindness, truth, and a true concern for their eternal soul. Anything less is not showing love to them and shows a pride and love for one’s self. It is not the love of Christ, and if we say we are of Christ we are to be always trying to show his love. How can we do any less when he has taken on the eternal hell due us to save our souls?

1 John 4:13-21

13 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 17 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 19 We love because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.