Dare 9: We LOVE because He first LOVED us

Here we are, on week 9 of the Love Dare and I was beginning to get that feeling again... that why am I doing this feeling.  And again God has told me very loud and clear that even if I'm only doing this for myself, this is what He has called me to do.  I have been so challenged with the calling to LOVE this past week that I am completely overwhelmed by it.  Where do I even begin? 


We are doing a series over 1 John at church right now.  And if you are familiar with 1 John at all, you know it is ALL about loving people.  And if you've ever studied it very much, you also know it can be hard to not become overwhelmed with feeling like you just aren't getting it right.  But that's where the sweetness of it all comes in: You aren't; but Christ did.   He is our advocate and BECAUSE He first loved us, the light is already shining.  We've already won.  LOVE has already won.  Amen!  


So, we talked about this at Lifegroup and we decided that to become good at anything, for anything to become second nature, you must practice first.  Love is NOT going to come easily; people are difficult to love.  So at first, practicing loving your students may seem forced, but after you've practiced for so long, you'll start finding that it comes a lot easier, and a bit more naturally.  

And it just so happens that I have a perfect example of a teacher loving her students this week.  My cousin, Lisa Baker, is a middle school teacher in Webb City. One of her students has just been diagnosed with cancer and Lisa decided to start a fundraiser to raise money for this students' traveling expenses for his medical care.   The catch? If the school raises $5000, she will shave her head.  They raised $4000 in a week.  She loves her students.  Obviously, we won't all have the opportunity to do something quite like Lisa, but would you if you were in that situation?  I've been struggling with that question all week...


The Story (If you'd like to read more about Lisa and her student)

And God continued to challenge me to love in a bit harder ways this morning.  During the opening worship at church today it was pretty apparent to me that something was "heavy" in the air, but I hadn't heard the news yet. Josh hinted at it when he when he was opening, but continued on with his sermon... on LOVE... and shared with us at the end of the service that three Bolivar students were killed in a car crash during the night last night.  One of them was my student when I student taught 4th grade in Bolivar 5 years ago.  
Life is fragile.  And unpredictable. 
I'll preface this with saying that we should never live a life of "What ifs" but I feel like this is an important question to ask...

What if I chose selfishly not to love a student (or anyone) and something happened? 

But instead of focusing on the answer to a what-if question, I just want to focus on the solution: 
LOVE.  
Love because He first loved us.  
Love because if we love God, then obedience will follow.  And what does obedience look like?  LOVE.  




Praying for the families who lost their daughters and the friends whose hearts are broken.  
Praying that we can all learn to love, for no other reason than He first loved us.