Don't Take Away the Love

A pastor's wife emailed me this note: "We are trying to help a friend deal with his wife's death. She died at age 34 from leukemia. When we were going through her death with him at the hospital, I was in the chapel crying out to the Lord and telling Him, 'Lord, I just don't want the pain anymore.'

"The Lord said, 'Okay, I can take away the pain, but if I do, I will also have to take away the love.'

"I said. 'Oh no, Lord, don't do that.'"

People's deepest needs are met when they realize how much God loves them, and we must be there to help them feel His love. Being willing to share the pain of others is a part of sharing their lives.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians: "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us" (1 Thessalonians 2:8).

God is willing to feel my pain. Love is willing to feel another's pain.

God wants to express Himself to those around us through our love, but usually we think He wants to convince others through our wisdom. In 1 Peter 4:8, Peter wrote, "Above all, love," perhaps because it's the surest means of doing what the Spirit would do. God is love. If we are in doubt what the Spirit desires, we will likely do the right thing if we do the loving thing.

"God so loved...that he..." God still does everything out of love for us. He is love, and He cannot go against His nature. If others sense His presence in us, they will sense that we, too, could say, "I am doing what I am doing because I love you."

Thank You, Jesus, that You love me enough to feel my pain.

"Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love" (Ephesians 4:2).

Aletha