John 13:34-35 English Standard Version (ESV)

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Think about the one person you love the most.

Elizabeth Barret Browning challenges us in Sonnet 43 to ask ourselves; “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.”

Take a moment to answer the question about your loved one. Count the ways you love that one. Rank them if you must but honesty usually identifies itself in these moments with first thoughts. Now take a moment to look over your list. If it is a mental list fine, so be it.

Now qualify that list. Is the list physical in nature? Such as I love your eyes. Is the list commercial in nature? Such as I love your cooking? Is it personal in nature? Such as I love your personality? Is it spiritual in nature? Such as I love your heart. Maybe it is a mix bag of these or something else.

Here is a list that might exist out there.

I wake up every morning looking for you.

I ask about your thoughts and emotions.

I ask about what you want?

I look to meet your needs.

I share my inner most self with you. I hide nothing.

I care about what you care about and I hope you feel the same way about me.

Jesus said to love one another but never said how to do it.

John 17:24 English Standard Version (ESV) Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

“I love you and want you to be with me, to see me, to see love and to share it.” JC Limitless Love

Isaiah 24:4-7 English Standard Version (ESV)

⁴ The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish.
⁵ The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.
⁶ Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.
⁷ The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.

This morning my mind was concerned about the divisions and factions that hold sway over our people. My concerns were about the media and what drives those agendas and it was all about the money or so it seems in my mind. Then I began seeking the Word of God for what the Lord had to say on the subject.

I search selling and usury nothing I found rang true for me. I found no confirmation in my spirit. I kept looking. These verses in Isaiah is where my spirit settled in and truth revealed itself. I mourn for all that is happening because it did not have to be this way. The very earth itself suffers because of the transgressions of its inhabitants. The earth cannot make choices, what is done upon it is because of what man does upon it.

Spiritual transgressions have environment impact. Breaking covenant brings about the curse.

My messy heart sighs for the things I see. Turning off the television, the news and the frenzied attempt to get rich quick does nothing to remove the curse. Turning a blind eye changes nothing.

Our influence grows smaller as there become fewer and fewer of us left to make a difference in the lives of individuals.

Psalm 6:2 English Standard Version (ESV) Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am languishing; heal me, O Lord, for my bones are troubled.

One cannot give hope if they have lost it.