Changing Your Focus

Reduce Me to Love: Unlocking the Secret for Lasting Joy
by Joyce Meyer

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And this I pray: that your love may abound yet more and more and extend to its fullest development in knowledge and all keen insight [that your love may display itself in greater depth of acquaintance and more comprehensive discernment],
So that you may surely learn to sense what is vital, and approve and prize what is excellent and of real value…

-PHILIPPIANS 1:9,10

Do you need to readjust your priorities or change your focus?

In Philippians 1:9,10, Paul prayed that the church in Philippi would abound in love and that their love would display itself in a greater way. He prayed they would learn to choose what was excellent and of real value. In 1 Corinthians 12:31, he wrote that love is the more excellent way.

Paul was praying that these believers would focus on love. We cannot have powerful, victorious lives unless we love people.

Are you willing and ready to become a student of the love walk? If so, you need to know that it requires education and commitment.

We must have our minds renewed to what love really is. It is not a feeling we have; it is a decision we make-a decision to treat people the way Jesus would treat them.

When we make a true commitment to walk in love, it usually causes a huge shift in our lifestyle. Many of our ways-our thoughts, our conversation, our habits-have to change. For instance, we may be accustomed to spending all our extra money on ourselves only to discover that walking in love requires that we spend it on others.

Love is tangible; it is not just an emotional feeling, a spiritual thing that cannot be seen or touched. It is evident to everyone who comes in contact with it.

A love walk does not come easily or without personal sacrifice. Each time we choose to love someone, it will cost us something-time, money or effort. That's why we are told to count the cost before we make the commitment. (Luke 14:25-33.)

PURSUE AND SEEK LOVE

Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest]…

-1 CORINTHIANS 14:1

Developing a love walk like the one displayed in the life of Jesus is like digging for gold. True Christlike love is not found on the surface of life. It cannot just be seen and picked up. The Bible tells us that we must eagerly pursue and seek it. These are both strong words.

The word pursue means “to follow in an effort to capture or overtake.” The word seek means “to try to find or discover; search for.” In other words, we need to go after love with all our might and act as if we cannot live without it!

There are degrees of desire. We want many things, but there are only a few things in life we actually want so much that we are willing to sacrifice to have them.

If you and I want to learn about love, we will have to study it. We will have to read books about it, listen to teaching tapes on it, familiarize ourselves with everything Jesus and the apostles said about it.

If you want to know about love, try to find someone who operates in love and study that individual. Watch how he handles people and difficult or tense situations. Observe how he gives. Examine the fruit in his life.

All of us must not only learn about love but also seek, pursue and acquire it, because God's Word boldly tells us that without it we are absolutely nothing.

THE GREATEST OF THESE IS LOVE

If I [can] speak in the tongues of men and [even] of angels, but have not love (that reasoning, intentional, spiritual devotion such as is inspired by God's love for and in us), I am only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.
And if I have prophetic powers (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose), and understand all the secret truths and mysteries and possess all knowledge, and if I have [sufficient] faith so that I can remove mountains, but have not love (God's love in me) I am nothing (a useless nobody).
Even if I dole out all that I have [to the poor in providing food, and if I surrender my body to be burned or in order that I may glory, but have not love (God's love in me), I gain nothing.

-1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-3

This is strong language, but hopefully it will wake us up!

There are many people who think they are really something because of what they have accomplished in life, but according to God's Word they are nothing unless love has been a priority in their life.

A little girl who loved Jesus wanted to express her love for Him, so she asked her mother about it. She said that since she knew that Jesus lived in her heart she was wondering if she wrote “I love you” on a piece of paper and ate it, would He see it.

Of course, the way Jesus sees how much we love Him is by how much we obey Him. He has commanded us to love one another; if we are not doing that, then we are not showing Him that we love Him.

We can sacrifice without love, we can give without proper motive, we can build ministries and forget all about love, but there is nothing greater we can take to the unchurched world than love. There is nothing more convincing than God's love reflected in our own character.

Love is the universal language; everyone understands it. Even though the people of a remote village in India or Africa may not understand the language of the missionary who is sent to them, they can understand kindness, warmth and a caring attitude.

Why did Paul single out love as the greatest thing in the world? Because love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:8). Everything else may fail, but love will not.

Love can melt the hardest heart, it can heal the wounds of the broken heart and it can quiet the fears of the anxious heart.

Most of the things we devote our time and energy to are things that are currently passing away, things that will not last, things that are not eternal.

We strive to make money build businesses, achieve great accomplishments, excel in sports, be popular, own buildings, cars, clothes, jewelry. We want to expand our minds and see the world, yet all of these things are temporal. Only love never comes to an end. An act of love goes on and endures forever.

I want to put my time and energy into something lasting, don't you?

In his book, The Greatest Thing in the World, Henry Drummond says that “to love abundantly is to live abundantly, and to love for ever is to live for ever.” In order to “love abundantly” and “love forever,” you must learn to walk in love toward everyone. But to do that you must first receive God's love for you, because it is impossible to give to others something you do not have yourself.

Copyright © 2000 by Joyce Meyer

About the Author

JOYCE MEYER has been teaching the Word of God since 1976 and in full-time ministry since 1980. She is the bestselling author of more than fifty inspirational books, including How to Hear from God, Knowing God Intimately, and Battlefield of the Mind. She has also released thousands of teaching cassettes and a complete video library. Joyce's Enjoying Everyday Life radio and television programs are broadcast around the world, and she travels extensively conducting conferences.