The Compass in You

"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."
1 John 4:11-12 (ESV)

Picture a navigator using a compass to tell them which way to go. The compass doesn't decide where north is. It responds to the magnetic field already in the earth, so that the instrument points north every time without fail.

Your heart works the same way once God's love lives in you.

"In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10, ESV) In Jesus, God declared to the angels in heaven, to the demons in hell, and to every human being who will ever set foot on this earth, "I love you."

That declaration also comes with an assignment. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:11-12, ESV) The logic is pretty simple. God is love. Every follower of Jesus is a child of God, and God’s children share God's nature. So God's children will love others, the ones who do you right and the ones who do you wrong, your friends and your enemies, your family and complete strangers.

When you've been to the cross and experienced Jesus Christ's salvation through the Holy Spirit, your heart becomes a compass that always points toward love.

When you see that relative who’s wronged you, don't force a smile and move on. Let your heart do what a compass does, and turn toward them anyway. Ask God to show you one way to love this person today. Then follow the tug you feel inside; that's the Holy Spirit leading you.

You don't have to force yourself to love someone. You just have to let the love God already put in you point the way – the way a compass needle finds north.

Prayer: Father, thank You that You sent Your Son before I ever loved You back. When I'd rather avoid someone who's wronged me, turn my heart toward them instead. I don't want to force love, I want it to come from what You’ve done in me. In Jesus' name, Amen.