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About The Siuslaw news. (Florence, Lane County, Or.) 1960-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 12, 2016)
12 A SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2016 Real Love for Real Life What Is True Love? Love is not just a feeling, or a theory, or a nice word. It’s action — it’s the way you treat people, what you do for others. Love will always cost you something: time, energy, effort, money, giving up your pride, doing what’s right when you don’t feel like it, keeping a good attitude when you don’t get your way. Loving the way God loves means you love when there’s nothing in it for you; it’s all about giving out and not expecting anything in return. We’re called to outreach, not in-reach. Real love is about dying to self and living to love others. Before you can love others, you have to experience God’s love in your own life, because you can’t give away something you don’t have. Then you have to be willing to ask God to teach you to love the way He loves. When you do this, God will enable you to reach out and help someone else. I know this works because I've lived it. Live to Love! I used to be selfish, self-cen- tered, always thinking about how I could get my way. And I was miserable. See, I loved God and wanted to love people, but no matter how hard I tried to be sweet and nice to every- body, all of my trying was get- ting me nowhere. I was cranky, hard to get along with and impatient. God showed me the problem was that I didn’t like myself because of the shame of my past. I grew up in an abusive home, and I felt guilty, con- demned and ashamed because of it. I had to accept God’s love for me before I could love any- one else. So I decided to study God’s love in the Word, pray for God to change my heart, and con- fess what His Word says about His love for me. Every day I would say out loud, “God loves me,” and I would say it over and over to purposely keep this truth in my heart throughout the day. After a year of doing this, I finally got a revelation about God’s love for me. Now I am able to receive God’s love and love others the way Jesus taught us to love. I don’t do it perfectly all the time, but I’ve come a long way and am making progress every day. My prayer is, “God, show me how I can help others. Make me a blessing everywhere I go. I want to live to love You and others.” In my personal life, I try to make it my business to add value to everybody I come in contact with. I can honestly say that learning how to love others with God’s love has made me the happiest I’ve ever been. The truth is you can't be selfish and also be happy or have peace. Make it your goal each day to pursue God’s love and then give it away. First Corinthians 14:1 (AMP) says to “eagerly pursue and seek to acquire [this] love [make it your aim, your great quest].” So go after it with all your might, and ask God to make you a blessing everywhere you go! You can do something to help someone. You can live to love, just like Jesus. CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK The Bible teaches us that it’s God's will for us to help hurting people. In John 13:34-35, Jesus says, “I give you a new com- mandment: that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too should love one another. By this shall all [men] know that you are My disciples, if you love one another...” (AMPC). Matthew 22:37-38 says, “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (intellect). This is the… first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself” (AMPC). The love message is the power of the Gospel. It’s so simple: Love God and love your neighbor as you love yourself. We often think we need someone to love us, but what we really need is someone to love. And the world is desper- ate for real love, so it isn’t hard to find someone who needs to be loved. We live in a society that drives people to selfishness. So much of the advertising we see and hear influences us to want more and more and to never be satisfied with what we have. But the more selfish and self- centered we are, the less power we have to do good and help others. The good news is we have what we need in Christ to over- come a selfish, “What about me?!” mindset and lifestyle. We have the power of God’s love! It’s the answer to every dilemma and problem in our society today. And as Christians, our goal is to represent Christ in the world and show His love. Post-election healing service at FUUF Sunday Rev. Dr. Ruth Miller will lead the Florence Unitarian Universalist Fellowship’s (FUUF) worship service Sunday, Nov. 13, from 10 to 11 a.m. The title of Miller’s talk will be “A Post-Election Healing Service.” “The past two years have been grueling. Some folks have called what the U.S. has gone through an existential crisis,” said Miller. “Now we get to grieve, to forgive (our- selves and others) and to heal so we can move forward — as a community and as a nation.” Miller will lead attendees through a process and give pointers on ways to move for- ward as Unitarian- Universalists committed to honoring diversity, the right of conscience and the democratic process. The UU Fellowship, 87738 Highway 101 at Heceta Beach Road, is wheelchair accessi- ble. Each service concludes with Spirituali-Tea to ‘Turn other cheek’ On Monday, Nov 14, beginning at 6:30 p.m., everyone is invited to join a group from varied spiritual paths to discuss “Turning the Other Cheek” and Veteran’s Day. Abdu’l-Baha says that a community has the right to punish criminals: this punish- ment is to protect human rights. But individuals may not exact vengeance. The main goal of the Baha’i Faith centers around the peaceful unification of the entire human race. The gathering will end at 8 p.m. with prayers for the requests left in the Prayer Pole in the garden of the Florence Playhouse, and by those shared by the group. The Heintz home is locat- ed at 875 Seventh St. For more information call Suzanne Mann-Heintz at 541-590-0779. Deadlines for press releases and news items are Mondays and Thursdays at noon. pressreleases@thesiuslawnews.com refreshments and dialogue cir- cle to explore the questions that come up during each serv- ice. For more information, visit the FUUF website at flo- renceuuf.org or call 541-997- 2840. It’s Garage SaleTime!!!! Friday, Nov. 18th, 4-7pm Saturday - Monday, Nov. 19-21 10am-6pm 5 0-80% OFF S ELECTED M ERCHANDISE Come early for best selections on New & Used Women Clothing and Shoes, Accessories and Jewelry! We’re located at the F LORENCE P LAYHOUSE Corner of 1st and Laurel, Old Town Florence
