Decided

DEVOTION
1 TIMOTHY
DECIDED
1 Tim 1:4-7
5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6 Some have wandered away from these and turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
NIV
How else could I ever love anyone if I did not have a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith? I am sure love can be motivated by something else but I do not know what kind of love that is. I do believe love is a decision rather than a feeling, I remember pastor T always saying that you do not fall in love, you fall in the mud. I think that is true and that is love has to be decided upon based on my relationship with my Lord. This love which is used here is the love feast type, the agapeo love, a mutual love between brothers and sisters in Christ no matter what kind of earthy material wealth or lack of each have. This has to come from a pure heart for I fear otherwise it may be used to manipulate those with less to do for those with more. I think these are those who have wandered away and turned to meaningless talk. These words such and do cause me to be introspective to make sure I love from a pure heart, a heart free from a corrupt desire and from sin and guilt. This can only be due to Christ. I have no personal agenda in my love for my fellow believers. I think all I desire is to love them because it demonstrates Jesus. I fail all too often in this type of love. I think I get catch up in thinking about myself more than I should. Is it enough just to say I love you to someone else or must it be accompanied by action? If so, what kind of action? Is it simply following all the description of love from 1 Corinthians 13? That certainly would be a great starting point and it is more about my inner being and how I act and react in my relationship with others rather than what I physically do. I can see all those needing a pure heart and a good conscience alone with a sincere faith. If I am feeling guilt and shame over my failing to live up to the standard of God, how could I love others? If I am simply talking the walk, living a hypocritical live, then I cannot love others the way I should. It is simply yet it is so complex. It is so complex yet it is so simply. I have to be a man of extreme caution in my relationship with all others, always being on guard for that old self creeping in and wanting his own ways rather than Christ’s. This lifestyle, being a Christian is a thinking man’s life, not a feeling man’s life. If I have decided to follow Jesus, than I have decided to love others as well. I have decided.