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Abundant Life - Abundant Relationships

Do to others as you would have them do to you - Luke 6:31

    When it comes to relationships there is a very simple rule to follow that will bring abundance into every single relationship in your life and that is simply to do to others as you would have them do to you. It is quite that simple and if you could develop that one habit then I am convinced that every single one of your dealings with another human being would flourish.  If we all simply took a minute to consider out actions or words before unleashing them, to think about if they were something that we would like done to us, then the world might be a very different place. 
    Another hugely important key to any relationship is love.  It may sound a bit weird to you if I told you to love your boss at work but you mind think it is perfectly reasonable if I told you to love your husband.  True love works no matter what.
At the heart of every single relationship on the earth is the need for love.  Your boss will flatly deny it and so might your teenager but your husband might agree.   The simple truth is that it is possible that you have misunderstood what love is which is why you might thing what I am saying is bizarre. 

Love is Not a Feeling
Let’s start with the basics.  Love is not a feeling.  Love is an act of your will.  If your idea of love is the squishy feeling you get inside of you then we are talking about two different things.  The squishy feeling is in fact infatuation not love.  Infatuation can be defined as a feeling of foolish or extravagant passion or attraction.  Most people say that they fall in love, which sadly means that you can fall out of love again.  What they actually mean is that they were infatuated at first but then the passion faded. True love does not depend on fleeting, passionate feelings.  True love cannot be fallen into or fallen out of.  True love is a decision that you make to love someone and the only way you can stop loving them is if you decide to stop loving them.  True love does not depend on how you feel about them, it is a decision you make that is unrelated to how you feel on any given day or where you are in your hormonal cycle if you are a woman.  You see, relationships based on infatuation are unstable and unpredictable.
     A relationship based on love is secure and will withstand the storms of life.  Sadly, we human beings are incapable of pure love; we are too selfish and hopelessly flawed.  Even our best attempts at truly loving someone will always be tainted by our flaws and there can never be pure.  Thank God for Jesus!  He was the only human being who ever lived whose love was perfect on this earth.  His love is and always will be pure and available to us.  It is when we tap into His love that we are truly able to love, and it’s in His love where all abundant relationships begin. 

Let’s Start at the Very Beginning
You cannot give what you don’t have to give.  If you do not have the love of Jesus inside your heart then you are unable to give His pure love to another living person.  You need to start at the very beginning. 

 We love Him because He first loved us.                  - 1 John 4:19

The very beginning is realising that it all starts with God.  If you already love God you cannot take any credit for loving Him.  You love Him because He first loved you.  If you don’t love God then may I tell you a little bit about Him please?
     God loves you.  Yes, the creator of the universe loves YOU.  He is besotted with you.  He has watched you for every minute of your life since you were born.  In fact, He knew you and all the plans He had for you long before you were even thought of by your parents.  He said in the Bible that before He formed you in the womb He knew you .  God loves you so much that He even sent His one and only son, Jesus, to save you.  As you might already know, this trip from heaven to earth ended up resulting in Jesus death for you.  He died so that you could live.  He was punished so that you didn’t have to be.  He took your guilt and shame so that you could be free.  He did all these things before you even knew that He existed.  Now that is true love.

This is a chapter snippet from the book, Abundant Life.  Find out more here or use the Abundant Life study notes or workbook for self study or for group study.  Abundant Life is guaranteed to change your life so that you can live life to the full - more abundantly.

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