how to become a great lover…

there are five things that you can do that will help you get on the road to becoming a truly great lover, a truly great person of love.

1. learn how mature love acts and responds.
2. start your day with a daily reminder to love.

3. memorize what GOD says about love.

the bible is filled with advice, inspiration, truths, principles on how to become a great lover, a great loving person. the problem is, you don’t have any of these in your mind. when you’re in a situation when you’re tempted to be unloving, to be jealous or envious or angry or impatient or judgmental or critical or any of the other unloving acts we’re all tempted to do on a daily basis – when those situations occur, because you don’t have any of those verses in your mind, your bible is usually at home on a shelf and it’s no good in that situation. but if you will memorize a few verses of what GOD says about love and put them in your mind, then when you’re in a situation where you need them, GOD can bring them to remembrance – “remember what i said…”

some of you have never memorized anything out of the bible. so when you get discouraged or when you’re depressed or when you’re angry or when you’re worried or when you’re fearful, there’s nothing for GOD to bring to mind. so you don’t have anything that GOD can use because your bible is setting at home on a shelf. you need to memorize GOD’s word. the bible says, THY word have i hid in my heart that i might not sin against THEE. we need to reprogram our minds, repattern our thought life from selfish thoughts to unselfish thoughts to be more loving in the way GOD wants us to be.

4. practice acting in unselfish, loving ways.

love is like a muscle. the more you use it, the more it develops. practice makes perfect. how many of you were expert drivers the first time you sat behind a wheel? none of you. in fact the first time you got in a car to drive, it felt quite awkward. so you began to practice driving. the more you practiced, the better you got at it. now it’s second nature. you don’t even think about it.

when you want to become a great lover, a truly loving person, you have to intentionally do some things that seem awkward at first. they don’t fit. they don’t seem natural. but the more you practice, the more it becomes second nature and you become a genuinely loving person. by the way, there are no natural lovers. it’s all learned through practice.

just a thought from the front porch…