Ten years ago I was a lost sheep. I was busy in my career making money and while I loved God I knew very little about what He expected from me. I was not reading the Bible. In fact I did not own a Bible and truthfully I wasn’t going to Church either. I began to search for Jesus and He found me. One day I felt Jesus speak in my heart. He asked me this question: “What is love?”… Well I thought I knew the answer, so I said, “Love is a feeling”…to which I heard God say in my heart… “Wrong”… I began to feel uncomfortable. You know that feeling when you are sure you know the answer and you raise your hand in class only to have the teacher say “wrong”…Wow!…God asked me “what is love?” and I got the answer wrong! So with some trepidation I asked, “what is it then?” Jesus replied “Love is a choice”. And in that moment I understood that love is a choice to honor God.

I never thought I would hear the voice of Jesus in my heart…and I am surely not worthy of hearing Him but I am convinced this voice is Our Lord, the Good Shepherd. He came to find His lost sheep and He began to teach me things I did not know. See what Jesus knew about me and maybe you are guilty of this too, is that I was making all my choices based on how I was feeling. I realize now that making choices based on your emotions is very limiting. Think about it…if our choices are based on how we feel, then love will be driven by our emotions instead of our reason. I realized that Jesus wanted me to love without conditions, without consideration for how I was feeling. This simple definition “Love is a choice” NOT a feeling…made me question all my choices. Were my choices showing I was a loving person or not? Were my choices honoring Jesus or was I just making decisions based on how I was feeling, e.g., if you make me feel angry, will I be kind to you?

I realize now that if we make decisions based on how we feel, our love may be held hostage by our emotions. That’s not what Jesus wants. He wants our choices to be based on sound reasoning that honors the precepts that He teaches us

Jesus said, “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”  John 15:9-10

Love is a choice to honor God.  Let’s love even when we are tired and frustrated, when we feel hurt and angry, when we feel betrayed and lonely and then and only then will we truly show Jesus that we love Him!