[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” column_margin=”default” column_direction=”default” column_direction_tablet=”default” column_direction_phone=”default” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” row_border_radius=”none” row_border_radius_applies=”bg” overlay_strength=”0.3″ gradient_direction=”left_to_right” shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_tablet=”inherit” column_padding_phone=”inherit” column_padding_position=”all” column_element_spacing=”default” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” column_link_target=”_self” gradient_direction=”left_to_right” overlay_strength=”0.3″ width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” bg_image_animation=”none” border_type=”simple” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
– 1 John 4:7-8
I was right. I knew I was. The way I changed her words was the correct way to do it. And yet, it was all wrong.
My assignment was to edit the words of a volunteer who had been asked to write something for our magazine. I was young, hotheaded, and sure of my skills. I ripped into her article, throwing nouns and verbs around like so much trash. I rearranged. I deleted. And hurt her.
When my boss confronted me about it, I defended my choices with gusto and confidence. I was the one with a degree in journalism, after all. Surely, she would see my side.
This would not be the first or last time I barged into a situation with my thoughts and ideas brandished like swords, inflicting wounds on any who stood in my way. It was, however, the first time I realized that being right is not always right. There is a time for exactness and correctness. There are places to be perfect. But life and relationships rarely exist in that sort of time and place. Those times and places are always for love.
With time and wisdom and practice, I know now that the person comes before the performance. The caring comes before the correctness. The heart of another comes before the hotheads like me.
This is where love steps in. Love pauses to see the person first and asks what the most loving thing is to do. I cannot do that without the source of love: God. It’s interesting that the Bible gives us a definition of faith (being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see, Hebrews 11:1), but the definition of love is much simpler: God.
We know God. We have chosen to follow Him. Therefore, we know Love. Let’s leave our correctness behind and choose this path of Love. The footsteps are clearly marked by Him, even if we could never fill His shoes.
Related Scriptures: 1 John 4:7-8, 1 Corinthians 16:14, John 13:35
- Do you know someone in desperate need of an extra dose of God’s love?
- Have you ever shown God’s love to someone when they didn’t seem to deserve it? Did somebody else happen to notice it?
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