I want to love like THAT!

Love ain't easy.  Love is not an emotion.  It is a decision.  It is Action.  Usually the emotion goes with it, but not necessarily.  Real love is not a feeling, it's how you treat someone else.  It's selfless, it's kind, it's gentle, it doesn't accuse, it always trusts, etc.

Look at Stephen in Acts:
7:58 Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Seriously?  As they were stoning him to death he cried out, Father do not hold this sin against them!  So if someone raped your daughter, could you cry out - Father do not hold this sin against him?  Or as they robbed you at gun point, could you plead - Father do not hold this sin against them?  Or how about when they cut in front of you in the wal mart check out line, could you lift them up and ask - Father do not hold that sin against them?

THAT is love.  I can gaurantee Stephen probably didn't have bubbly emotions for these people, but he loved them with real love.  Godly love.

Laws, rules, punishment, death penalties, congress, none of this is the answer to crime or hate.  Only love can transform lives.  And the most powerful love is when it's undeserved.

Romans 5: 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
1 Peter 3:9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called

Did you catch that: Saul (or Paul) was in that crowd that Stephen prayed for?  Was Stephen's prayer a contributing factor in the grace Paul received?  I can guarantee Paul probably NEVER forgot that prayer of Stephen's.  Real love transforms lives.  Yes, the road to Damascus is where Paul began following Christ, but this act of love had to of stuck with Paul for the rest of his life.  Ask yourself - if you were beating someone to death and they prayed this - would you ever forget that?  Hell, may be it's the reason God had mercy on Paul to begin with.  I don't know... but it's sure interesting.

I want to be able to love like THAT.  That is love.  The world does not know love.  We do not know how to love.  We don't even recognize it.
1 John 4: 7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

Apart from God, you cannot love.  You can mimic it, you can fool some people.  But apart from God you cannot love.  Because true love is like Stephen's love.  And I can promise you, that is only possible by the power of God through experiencing the love of Jesus Christ and being empowered to love like that by His Holy Spirit!