Love gracefully

Love…

It seems to be a theme lately. Not the sappy, romantic kind that everyone hypes about but the real, genuine love that knows no boundaries, sees people for who they really are, doesn’t change because of circumstance, and doesn’t hinge on personal judgment. 

A while ago, I decided to love people without judging them. I asked God to teach me to see people for the way He did. Slowly, I’m learning what this looks like. How do you love unconditionally? How do you accept someone even if you don’t condone their behavior? 

A few weeks ago, I was reading 1 John 3. Verse 18 really jumped out at me…
 

    Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue but in deed and in truth
 

 Some days later, I thought of the phrase love gracefully. I don’t know, it just came to me and I thought it sounded cool. At first I was thinking graceful in the elegant sense but then it hit me–that’s exactly what love is, full of grace!

We manifest our love toward others in through our actions; extending them the grace we have received ourselves. We don’t have to agree with their choices or beliefs (that’s between them and God) but we can speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15) and point them to the One who loved us to the point of death. 

Love is a conscious decision to put yourself aside and see others the way God sees them. It’s treating others with the respect and dignity they deserve because they are made in His image. It’s getting past the outward manifestations of deeper issues and meeting people where their heart really is. 

May God continue to teach us to love gracefully in deed and in truth.