BECAUSE OF THE CROSS - I CAN LOVE OTHERS

"Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord" - Romans 12:10-11

"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another" - John 13:35

"Love is most divine when it loves according to needs, and not according to merit." - George MacDonald

The love we have for our spouses, children, parents, families and friends is often a love based on who they are, what they mean to us and how they make us feel. The Cross changes that love. It becomes a deeper, unconditional love that loves even when those we are closest to hurt us or make mistakes. It loves at all times...in all things...regardless of how we feel.

BECAUSE OF THE CROSS WE CAN HAVE THAT SAME LOVE FOR OTHERS WHO TOUCH OUR LIVES, OFTEN FROM A DISTANCE.

We can love the ungrateful, the unfair, the unjust, the imprisoned, the lonely, the homeless, the liar, the cheater, the thief, the murderer, the abuser, the adulterer, the addict, the disgruntled, the opinionated, the unlovely, the unloved.

Only through the Cross is it possible to love...and be loved...unconditionally.