Verse 13 has been talked about a good bit this week. Ben talked about being strong and trusting God. Bob talked about standing firm in the faith and trusting God even when fear creeps in. I’ll go into verse 14 today. “Do everything in love.”
Everything? Seems a bit much right? Maybe it’s just me, but is that possible? Can everything we do be surrounded in love?
We live in a world that teaches us to be skeptical of everyone’s motives. Everyone is taught to look out for themselves and not care about others. To me one of the ways that I see this daily is at work. You see, I work in a collection agency. The minute I make a call, I often have to battle with that skepticism of whomever else is on the line. Immediately they are wondering who I am and why I am calling them. But due to third party privacy law and some regulations we have within our company I can’t tell them why I am calling unless they verify who they are first. All I can say is that I am calling for “insert name here” and it is about a personal business matter. that person then needs to trust me that I am not trying to deceive them.
It gets more difficult after that too. If they identify themselves and I disclose why I am calling, then comes the negotiation. I have learned that love is the key here. If I don’t show them love by caring about their situation, listening to them, showing compassion, ect…I will lose them. They on the other hand seem to get to say whatever they want. I have been cussed out, ridiculed, insulted, hated and hung up on. This is on a daily basis. It is not an easy job. Honestly I would enjoy being able to say something rude back. But I can’t nor should I as a believer in Christ. I know better. I have been taught and told that I need to do EVERYTHING in love. Everything.
I don’t want to miss the stating the point though that there is such a thing as tough love. We often hear this described by parents about their children. Well collections is the same way. I have to negotiate. I can’t just give in to the demands of what the people who owe the bill want. Because lets face it…they don’t want to pay it. That’s just fact. I have to get them to understand that I am there to help them pay the bills they owe and that they are able to feel freedom when they are done.
Point being, I have to show love in collections. I have to conduct myself as I believe that Christ would. So what is your life like on a daily basis? Is everything you do based in love? Is this possible? What does this look like for you?
Going Deeper 
I appreciate how practical you’re thinking of this, matt. love is far more practical than we give it credit for, I suppose.