“Let your love for God change the world, but never let the world change your love for God.” ~ Stacy L. Sanchez
Love always changes us. We have all experienced it in our lives. From the very first moment that we fell for someone, our world became a different place. All we could think about was the other person. The only one we wanted to please was that other person. We would do anything for that other person. Whether it was “puppy love” or a love that was deep and long-standing, we became different. Love does that to us.
Our love for God should do that as well. If we truly love God, we will become transformed. We will begin to think differently and act differently because we look through God’s eyes rather than our own. We will begin to see the need of others and want to respond to their need. We will do all of this to please God and to let God know that we desire to grow ever more close to Him.
Love changes us. The wrong kind of love can change us not for good but for ill. The wrong kind of love can destroy us. If we love the world and the things of the world, we will find that our love can tarnish the love we have with and for God. This is a lesson that Jesus told His followers when He told them that no one could serve both God and mammon. They would either love the one and hate the other or despise the one and love the other. We cannot give ourselves over completely to God and to the world. It just cannot happen.
Too many times, people delude themselves into thinking that the riches and prestige of the world can provide everything that they want and need. And, as I have acknowledged in the past, it can; that is, if we are looking for something on a temporary basis. However, the world cannot provide eternity. They world cannot grant eternal joy. The world cannot give eternal peace. That can only come from God.
If we find ourselves falling too in love with the world, we will not care about or maintain any kind of relationship with God. And that can have eternal consequences. Don’t let the world change or destroy your love for God.
FAITH ACTION: Let go of anything in this world that keeps you from loving God as completely as you can.