One Love

I love lots of things – my friends, my family, medicine (I may be a bit of nerd…), dark chocolate, diet coke, singing – just to name a few. For some reason, it’s so easy for me to love these things the MOST, putting them above my love for God.

A fantabulous bible study by Kelly Minter (No Other Gods!) that I’ve been doing with the other Radical Love ladies (RLLs?) talks a lot about how putting other things (especially people!) above Christ in our lives can be destructive in our lives. It leads to jealous and competition with others, fosters our own feelings of inadequacy, and ultimately leaves us unsatisfied. I’ve realized I do this absolutely all the time – it is so easy for me to place my hope in things other than God. My challenge for myself is to have an undivided heart for Christ – one love if you will. A few awesome verses I’ve found that have been helpful are:

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. -Ezekiel 11:19

Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; 
give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name; I will praise you, Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. For great is your love toward me; you have delivered me from the depths, from the realm of the dead. Psalm 86: 11-13

How awesome is it that God promises to help us overcome our own shortcomings at GIVE us an undivided heart? It’s such an encouragement when I’m working to remove other loves as first place in my life! My challenge for us today is to think about these verses as we work to put our hope first in foremost in our one love – Christ!

And of course…a link to the excellent song one love by Bob Marley, just because it’s good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sonYFxHHvaM