In The Bank of God “Love Is a Choice”

Bishop Dennis Leonard says, God gave us the formula for how to walk in His love. It’s not rocket science. It’s as simple as this: We are to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, and we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Two simple commandments: Love God. Love people. If I’m going to love people, I’ve got to forgive people that I don’t want to forgive. That means I have to let go of the issues that I don’t want to let go of. I have to make a deliberate choice to treat people differently than how I want to treat them. While our natural man—our sin nature—is critical, unforgiving, and unkind, our spirit-man—the part of us renewed by the Spirit of Christ—is sympathetic, merciful, and loving.
Bishop Dennis Leonard at Heritage Christian Center say, if we really want to be sold on the spirit like Christ—which is what defines us as Christians—then we must love people no matter how unlovable they seem. In other words, we must make a quality decision to walk in love at all times—with all people. We must choose to get under the umbrella of love, and stay under that love cover no matter what goes on around us.
One of the keys to being like our Lord is not to be critical. Unfortunately, Christians are some of the most critical people in the world, often in the name of Christ! Even Jesus said He did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it! At the most crucial hour in world history, when our Master hung on the cross, He said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”. Has there ever been a time in your life when “they” were crucifying you, and you said, “Lord, just forgive them. They don’t even know what they’re doing?” Or did you want to punch them in the nose and then repent later?
I’m sure you will agree that finding fault with other people is one of the easiest things to do! Yet if we choose to walk in God’s bank of mercy, in His Spirit of love and forgiveness, we will find ourselves becoming more and more uncomfortable with criticizing others. The more we grow in Christ, the less “natural” it will become for us to slip into our old pattern of faultfinding.