Learning To Love by Gina Sewell

As Christians, we are called to love. The two greatest commandments that Jesus taught his followers were: 1) to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds, and 2) to love our neighbor as ourselves. Okay, the second I am working on. I do love people. That’s why I have such a strong need to help wherever I am able. But to love everyone? No matter what they do to me? No matter what they say to me? No matter how much they hurt me? This is where my emotions begin to take over.

I get angry. Anger, in itself, is not a sin. But to take it to the extremes that I tend to, at times, is a sin. The Bible says in Ephesians 4:26 (ESV), “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,” To me, that seems like it is saying that it is natural to get angry—just don’t let that anger control you.

I have been through a lot in my life. One purpose of my writing is to not only tell my story but to share my heart. I have been through things that, quite honestly, I don’t want to talk about. But I know I need to because God brought me back from there. From that place of darkness that I knew I didn’t belong, yet I spent several years there. That place where the devil resides. I think we always tend to bring our demons back with us from those experiences. For many people who have been down the same road as me, it is the demon of addiction. Temptation seems to follow us throughout our lives. But I squashed that demon ten years ago. No, for me it’s my anger. That’s the demon that refuses to let go.

The key to ridding ourselves of the torture that having a temper may cause us is, quite simply, love. We must love everyone and that will take lots of prayer for most of us. The more we pray to God, talking to him about our feelings, asking him to enable us to love, even those who have hurt us, we begin this process. We become slower to anger, we build our relationship with the Lord, and we are able to take this first step in making the world a better place.

I don’t know about you, but I am tired of the hate that rules this world. I want to make it a place of love and joy and compassion for others, so I am learning to love.

Gina Sewell

Gina Sewell is a mom and grandma who lives in the Dallas, Texas area, where she enjoys cooking and spending time with her family. She loves to write about Jesus and encourage others. Gina shares her journey on her website: http://www.ginabartonsewell.wordpress.com