In Christian Soup for the Christian Soul, Corrie ten Boom tells a story about when she faced a concentration camp officer years after the Holocaust. Though he did not remember her, he asked for her to forgive him. Corrie describes how all of her emotions fought so strongly against wanting to forgive, yet her mind knew she must ("But if you do not forgive men their sins, your father will not forgive your sins").
As soon as Corrie shook his outstretched hand, she immediately felt healing warmth and an overwhelming love that was not her own flow through her.
So often I find myself not feeling like loving someone. Corrie's story shows how God has given us a will that rules over our feelings. He asks us to obey him first, regardless of our emotions. When we do, however, the feeling of love may often follow. C.S. Lewis says that when we act like we love someone, soon we start to actually feel like we love that person.
I don't have to get frustrated or feel guilty when I don't feel loving. Instead, I just have to follow God as he shows me how to love them. Hopefully, the feelings will follow. If not, I know I am still loving God by obeying him. He has the power to love through us that I will never be able to muster up on my own.
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Have you read Corrie ten Boom before? She is fabulous and I have enjoyed both of the books I have read by her
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