Day 24: Let brotherly love continue

"Baby, come and cook indomie for my friend na, I am so tired..."

That was the voice of the annoying, crazy corper friend I had met just two days ago.

First of all, I detest people calling me "baby".

Secondly, I did not understand why he was trying to make me play hostess to his friend.

I looked at him slowly and rolled badass half past eyes at him.

 His friend joined in the plea...

"Please nah, come and cook indomie for me..."

I was getting upset, and I began to regret going there as I could not quite place what took me there in the first place. Thoughts of what could be going through their mind about me even made me more upset.

I responded, "No amount of guilt tripping me will make me cook for you"

The room was silent for a split second, and then my friend finally said he’ll cook it himself.

My mind kept bugging me

I kept hearing "Let brotherly love continue".

That was the sermon that was preached in church on that particular day and it felt so good when it was being preached - it just didn't feel so good now that I had to show love.

I had some grievances with showing brotherly love in this situation.

I mean, I just met this corper friend two days ago; I never visit guys in their houses except of course I have known them for years and I couldn't even remember why I was there as the whole "cook for me" thing almost made me see red.

I also do not...I mean, I absolutely do not subscribe to the mentality of cooking for anyone who isn't my husband.

But then, my spirit kept reminding me of the fact that this friend of my crazy friend is a Muslim.

What if he saw me preaching somewhere tomorrow?

What if I had to preach to him tomorrow?

What if he read my Christian blog tomorrow?  These were the thoughts that crossed my mind. So I walked out, took the matches, lighted the stove and proceeded to cook the indomie for him.

I tried to smile as I cooked but I was boiling within.

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Let brotherly love continue...

I didn't have to cook that indomie but I saw it as a lesson on love, not necessarily for my friend but for me, for all future dealings I would have to make with others.

Showing Christ's love within us to others won't always be agreeable and sweet to our minds.

Going out of our way and breaking personal rules will never ever taste delicious.

But if I must represent Christ, if I must show forth the love of God in me, then light the stove I will, cook the indomie I will, and even pound the yam I will Lol.

God still has to give me grace for this, but if I have to pound yam for anyone at all, to indeed show that God's love is in me...to show that I am as selfless as 1 Corinthians 13 tells me to be, then pound the yam I will.

I doubt that I will ever like it though, but I pray that the love of Christ will come to dwell in me fully.

That has been my prayer for a while now.

In fact amidst all the Valentine’s Day celebration last month, I was thinking and praying, "Father, let your love be shed abroad in my heart, more and more and more"

Why?

Because I realize that I haven't gotten there yet.

If I have to love others as God loves me then love has to permeate every fiber of my being... so much so that I will stop cringing at the thought of cooking meals for guys who are near strangers and start rejoicing at the opportunity to show God's love to someone else.

We can get to the point where we are indeed selfless and do not put ourselves first in our relationships with our spouses, siblings, parents, friends, loved ones and strangers.

We can get to the point where we indeed go out of our way, relegate ourselves to the background and say "I place what you want above what I want"

That's what Jesus did when He said "nevertheless, not my will but your will be done Lord".

That's the point I want to get to.

A love that isn't always "me first"

A love that cares more for others than it cares for herself. A love that puts up with anything;  the God kind of love. 1 Corinthians 13 kind of love.

That's the point I want to get to.

That's the point that we should all get to.

 -FRANCES OKORO|| IMPERFECTLY PERFECT LIVES

  This is day 24 of #31daysofLovinlikeJesus you can click here to see a list of posts in these series.

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