Love Without Boundaries

I have found that in this world "love without boundaries" is such a difficult task for us. Because we have gotten hurt by others;therefore, bitterness and unforgiveness lies deep within our hearts. Many of us have become what Matthew 24:12 speaks of, "Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold." Sin can look like many things...others hurting [physically, mentally, emotionally] you, turning their loyalty away from you, breaking of trust, lies, and even, just plain silence toward you. Unfortunately, we do live in a broken world, where there are many broken people and because of this our love does become cold.

But God...because God has forgiven our sins, we should not withhold forgiveness from others. Unforgiveness and bitterness if left untouched and is dwelled upon, becomes a deep stronghold within ourselves and it comes to affect not only ourselves, but those around us. In fact, this stronghold shuts down the power of prayer and disables the flow of healing and outreach to those around us.

I am not saying that it is easy to forgive others for their wrongs and weaknesses, but we what I am expressing is that we must remember and realize that because Christ has forgiven us, it should help us produce an attitude of forgiveness toward others.

I remember reading a book several years ago by Stormie Omartian, and one tiny sentence at the beginning of the book, captured my attention and it has stuck with me ever since...I don't remember the exact words that it used, but the gist of it was something like this...when you don't forgive, you are basically setting yourself above Christ's law of love and saying, in not so many words that Christ's death on the cross wasn't good enough! That really pulled at my heart strings because at the time, I had so much bitterness and unforgiveness in my heart. It made me realize that I was telling God, that His son's death, just wasn't good enough. I couldn't believe that my actions were showing Him that what His son did for me just wasn't enough to cover the sins and weaknesses of others.

I have to say that the forgiveness wasn't an overnight process, but as I gave my bitterness and unforgivessness to God and allowed Him to work in my life and heal my heart. I began to see my "cold heart" turn into gentleness, affection, and compassion for others. Allowing God to work in my life and in my heart, gave me the opportunity to show others Christ's love and live a life of "love without boundaries."

I ask you today, if you are harboring any unforgiveness or bitterness, give it to God and ask Him to begin to work in your life and in your heart. Don't allow bitterness to become a disease in your heart and soul for this will only allow the enemy to have a stronghold in your life and it will begin to turn your heart cold toward God and others.