Give Them Your Absolute Best

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)

Colossians 3:14(NLT) says, “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” This verse echoes God’s truth that love is a power beyond any other in the earth. It can take two or more and bind them together, so that unity, harmony, and peace is their primary function. Heavenly Father’s goal for each of us is that we clothe ourselves with love and wear it like a second skin. Many of us would say that we have this one on lock. We love our families, we love the person we’re with, and we’re good to our friends. Sure, there are a few folks that get on our last nerve, but we let that pass for the most part. So, we put a check in the ‘clothe yourselves in love’ box and call it a day.

We may be willing to give ourselves a passing score, but God is grading us on a different scale. In Ephesians 4:23, He tells us to be renewed in the spirit of our minds. This renewal business is no joke. It is a process we must engage continuously. The thing is, we can be going on about our daily routine, and not notice that love has gotten away from us in certain areas of our lives. We don’t often notice when we’re becoming overly selfish or self-indulgent, and when we’re neglecting God’s command to live love.

Many of us tend to be motivated in our relationships by what we can receive and not by what we can give. Acts 20:35 tells us to remember the words of Jesus Christ when he said it is more blessed to give than to receive. When our motivation is skewed, and our actions are not fueled from the good treasury of our hearts, things go sour very quickly. The energy around us shifts, and the wrong people respond to us in the right way; and the right people respond to us in the wrong way. We attract things that look satisfying but keep our tanks running on empty.

Arrogance will cause us to ignore the crazy in our relationships and chalk it up to ‘it’s just the way things are.” Humility will force us to check that stuff. After God tells us in Colossians 3:14 to clothe ourselves in love, He gives us shoes that keep us stepping in love’s groove. He said in Colossians 3:15(MSG)  ^“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing.” The end result of wearing love like a second skin is walking in the peace of Christ. Talk about goals, this is it.

Love does not disappoint. When it is backed by the love of Christ, it will yield unity and peace every time, without fail. Whenever things are coming at us sideways and doing so at a pace that distracts us from love’s way, we need to pause. We need to check in with the Holy Spirit to see if it is time for us to learn a greater lesson about the love of Christ. If we find that it’s lesson time, let’s be attentive to learn it well. God’s Will is that we invest His brand of love and peace into the people within our span of influence. If we truly value them, we’ll desire to give them our absolute best.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. 

“Give Them Your Absolute Best” written for Crazynlove.com ©2019.  All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord!