Focus on Jesus, with our eyes toward eternity - to protect our Love.

Today, God has illustrated to me a sad but critical lesson about the part we play in our relationship with Him. There is a very important person in my life who is choosing to walk away from me, not just me, but my entire family. Nothing I have said or done has been able to change this person's mind, or convince them that love is worth fighting for. After years of sharing life and honoring this person in heart, word, and deed, I've learned that not only has it all been in vain, but that our relationship was destroyed long ago by lies that took deep root in this person's mind so much that there is no amount of truth that will change today's situation. This person left their heart unguarded and the enemy was given a foothold long ago, whispering lie upon lie, until their mind was a mountain of steel boxes filled with untruths that completely shape their reality.

Friends, God loves us. He has done so much for us, that we can never be worthy of - but His love MAKES us worthy. He offers redemption and relationship without first requiring works or service. We can never earn His gifts. All He asks is that we choose to begin a relationship with Him, and then REMAIN in relationship with Him. That we love Him. Through that love, He transforms us, and through that love, we are inspired to do good works and acts of service, but they are not what saves us.

BUT - If we allow the enemy to convince us that our worthiness depends on our actions, if we allow the enemy to convince us that we have to clean up our hearts on our own, if we allow the enemy to convince us that God's love is conditional, then we begin to see God as a master who is constantly disappointed in us. We lose our love. We begin to do good works out of obligation and fear. We begin to tear apart other believers or withdraw and not have any fellowship at all. We also begin to critique God, and compare His love for us with His love for others, and become jealous or gloating.

The Bible tells us about this - and warns of this kind of relationship deterioration. At almost every wedding that happens in a church, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 is read. Those verses tell us what love IS. With all key passages, I like to read the surrounding verses, and often, I realize the depths out of which the key verses rise. The first part of 1 Corinthians 13 tells us how important love really is. Without it, you can read your Bible all day long, and it simply doesn't matter. Without love, you can spend your whole life in service to the poor and it's worthless. Eternally worthless. You can even have amazing faith and great spiritual giftings, but when they are not paired with love, they are only of temporary value. Worse than that, the Bible says they are like an obnoxious noise!

We are to store our treasures in heaven, and 1 Corinthians 13:13 tells us the only eternal treasures we can cultivate on this earth. Now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Our love for God, and our love for one another are the greatest treasures and should be most highly prized. Why then are we so quick to believe the world's definition of love, and the world's disposable view of love?

God doesn't force us to love Him. I can't force this person to love me, to love my family. I can't force this person not to leave us. I can make my pleas, and I can attempt to reason with them and convince them of the value of family and this relationship, but in the end, it's simply not my decision. Free will and the lies of the enemy are taking this person out of our lives. Free will and the lies of the enemy can take us out of God's presence as well.

Be so careful to guard your heart - don't let your love grow cold, even as the wickedness of this world and the lateness of the hour are so unsettling. REMAIN IN JESUS - and let HIM fan the flame of your heart's fire, focus on Jesus because only by remaining so close to Him can we ever hope to survive the coming days. Only relationships that are grounded in Jesus will survive as well.

If we are focusing on ETERNITY, and not our present circumstances, then love becomes more important than disagreement, more valuable than opinion, and more treasured than our own desires. We will have the kind of love that would lay its life down for a friend, or a daughter. We will love unconditionally and without condemnation. We will do good works out of our joy and love for God, and for one another, instead of to try to earn our keep or heal a wound. We will communicate and bear with one another, put up with one another, while we allow God to smooth the personality conflicts that are inevitable. But love overcomes. Love doesn't give up.

My heart is breaking over this loss, and what it means for all involved. The door of my heart will always be open to this person, but their choices are widening the gap more than I can bridge on my own.