I've been thinking about this more and more. I try to be more loving, I try to sacrifice and put the interest of others ahead of myself. But am I in my heart really loving that person? Do I love to sacrifice? Or is there always a feeling in me that does it begrudgingly? I've realized that simply trying to be more loving, by for example trying to match and live up to a set of descriptors (e.g 1 Cor. 13) simply will not work. I can try to be that person, and perhaps there can be some change, but surely its limited. Simply trying won't do much. Yet so often I hear that we need to be more loving without really teaching also on how to be more loving.
I forget where I heard this, but someone mentioned how on our own, we can't create love. However, if love is passed on to us, we can than pass it onto others. I found this to be very profound. God's love is the key to our ability to truly love others. As we ourselves are recipients of true love, as we have had God's love passed onto us, we thus have the capacity to love others. Thus, we love one another out of a fullness, not a self-serving emptiness.
So...are you trying to be loving, simply by meeting a set of descriptors and standards? Are you willing yourself to be a certain type of person? It's hard isn't it? Instead, live in response to the Gospel. Live in response to God's love. Allow God' s love to penetrate your heart so that you can than love others. Stop trying to do it on your own. Stop trying to love without first looking to the one who loved us.
