Really Make the Choice to Love

Love is a choice. When in your Children's Ministry you have a volunteer who may want their way, you still need to make the choice to show love to them. When in your Children's Ministry you have a parent or grandparent who is unhappy with what you offer, you still need to make the choice to show love to them. When in your Children's Ministry you have a child who has behavior issues in class, you still need to make the choice to show love to them. Love is a choice.

Which brings the questions, do you make the choice to love and what does this choice look like? Thankfully, God gives us the answers to both of these questions; consider 1 Corinthians 13 . . . 

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 Let's look more closely at this . . . love is a choice, because we have to make the choice to . . . 

• Verse 3 talks about being generous . . . it is a choice to be generous with our resources and with our time. We can choose to give to others and when we do, we are showing we made the choice to love.
• Verse 4 talks about being patient, kind, thankful for what others have/can do and being humble . . . it show these things in our lives. We can choose to be patient, kind, not envious and to be humble and when we do, we are showing we made the choice to love.
• Verse 5 talks about being someone who does not dishonor others, who is not easily angered, who does not keep a record of wrongs and who does not try to get all the attention for themselves . . . it is a choice to be a person who treats others well and puts their concerns first. We can choose to be this kind of person and when we do, we are showing we made the choice to love.
• Verse 6 talks about being a person who does not take delight in evil, but who rejoices in the truth . . . it is a choice to be a person who is committed to the truth, period. We can choose to be this person and when we do, we are showing we made the choice to love.
• Verse 7 tells us love always protects, trusts, hopes and does not give up . . . it is a choice to do these things. We can choose to be a person whose life is characterized by these words and when we do, we are showing we made the choice to love.
• Verse 8 tells us love never fails . . . it is a choice to not only be a person who does not give up, but to be a person who others can depend upon. We can choose to be a person whose love does not fail and when we do, we are showing we made the choice to love.

As you look at the week before you, focus upon not just talking about loving others, but upon being a person who makes the choice to really love others and to show it. If you do, your Children's Ministry will be one which truly reflects Jesus.