Jeg har i alle fall erfart og opplevd det han skriver om her, og opplever frihet ved å lese det og forstå det! :)
I'll have to admit that I grew up viewing love as an onerous chore. Loving others meant I had to be nice to them, even when I didn't want to.
Trying to share God's love with the world was a bit more confusing and often embarrassing. We knew we were supposed to share the gospel with them, but often we talked about them as enemies mereting God's judgment.
Most attempts to share God's love were driven by our feeling condemned if we didn't.
Because our motives lay more with our needs than theirs, we weren't really loving them.
Instead of feeling loved, they felt exploited by those who want to get another notch in their belts.
Jesus didn't call us to convert the world, but to love others the way we've been loved.
As long as we act out of obligation toward others we will fall far short. But He also knows that we cannot love effectively if we have not been loved extravagantly. That may seem selfish, but until we trust our Father to care for us, we will constantly use the people around us to meet our needs.
The unfolding of love in our lives can only begin with the weellspring of love, the Father Himself!
Once we experience love as God defines it we will not be able to keep from sharing it with others as is has been shared with us.
Where God is generous with you, you can be generous with others.
Jesus left us with one command: to love one another as we have been loved.
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