Practice Love

If I could master one simple commandment from the Bible - I think I'd have this whole Christianity thing down.

Which one?

To love others as Christ loved us.

Sounds simple enough.

Love people.

Most days I can easily love my husband and children. Even when they irritate me, I still love them. But love them as Christ loved me? Unconditionally, with a whole heart and happy spirit, when they don't deserve it, when I'm tired and cranky, when I need a nap, well, I'm not so great at that.

And that's just my family, who I love deeply and don't even want to imagine my life without. But God takes it even further, He calls us to love others. Meaning, your enemies, the people that have wronged you do deeply, the guy that speeds down the highway when it's been closed down to two lanes and bypasses all the signs reading "merge now" and then tries to weasel his way in front of the entire mile+ long line of waiting cars (does that just annoy me?) just to cut in front of us all, people you don't know, people you do know, others. People that are hard, if not almost impossible, to love.

God calls us to do just that. Even more, he commands it.

Not so simple anymore.

I think that if I could love others the way Christ loved me - unconditionally, sacrificially, without deserving anything on my part - I could really make a difference and that's a love I strive to show.

As a little reminder for myself, and for you, here's a little printable I made.

Download, print and let's all practice love.

Download it here.