The year: 1985. The place: a friend’s living room. The event: a Christmas party for our high school youth group. We all sat in a circle on the brown shag carpet, about fifteen of us, excited for our white elephant gift exchange.

When it was my turn, I anxiously grabbed a box from the middle and tore it open. There before my eyes I saw a wondrous thing – a Whiteheart cassette tape. Yes! This of course was before the day when every song was accessible on a device at your fingertips any time you wanted. No, you actually had to go to Musicland and buy it. And now I had a whole new cassette tape of Christian music to stick in my stereo or Walkman.

I played that cassette (along with Petra and Michael W. Smith) hundreds of times. And one song in particular has stayed with me; the lyrics still run through my head some forty years later. “Let your first thought, let your very first thought, be love.”

As I think about my past week, situations I encountered, people I dealt with, and things I had to get done, I’m not sure my first reaction was always love. I think my initial reactions are normally to think of myself, my needs, my wants, and whether or not I am getting my way. My first thought is often irritation or annoyance.

What if every time I interacted with another person, my first thought was to love them? What if in every situation, love was at the forefront of my mind?

In the Bible, Paul makes it clear what his motivation is. “For Christ’s love compels us…” (2 Cor. 5:14 NIV) The ESV version says, “For the love of Christ controls us…” Christ’s love was the reason the apostles gave up their ordinary lives and made it their mission to spread the gospel, and it was what kept them going every day.

The love of Christ isn’t just a feeling. It is a power. A power that drives us to make the world a better, brighter place.

Later in the same chapter (verse 20) Paul says, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us.” What a phenomenal thought, that God appeals to others through us. He uses us to spread His light and His love. We are vessels, used for His glory.

God, help my first thought, my automatic impulse, be love.