Isn’t it ironic at times how the older we get—and hopefully the deeper our walk with the Lord grows as a result—we so often need to return to some of the most basic teachings of Christ? Today I found myself doing just that.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35)
Love. An old and familiar topic. Is it really a new commandment? Isn’t it an old one dating back to the Mosaic commands of the Pentateuch? Sort of. It’s there. But Jesus puts a different spin on it here. Not only are we to love our neighbors as ourselves (Lev. 19:18); now we’re supposed to love them like Jesus would, with the intended result that they will see Jesus through our lives, and know that we are his disciples.
It’s easy for me to feel pangs of immediate defeat when I even begin to measure my “love life” up against Christ’s. He loved perfectly; He loved unto death on a cross! He is love! Still, God commands us to love this way. My only conclusion is that he will give me the power—through his Holy Spirit—to love in a way that is fleshly impossible. And one tool that he often uses to accomplish his work is his Word.
So I turned to another familiar passage: 1 Corinthians 13. I figured it couldn’t hurt to have a refresher on the characteristics of godly love. But—as so often is the case—it wasn’t the verses I was thinking of that were so convicting to me. It was 1 Corinthians 13:3: If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Yikes. So I can give someone everything I have and even give my life for them without loving? Absolutely. One commentator says about this passage: “Love cannot be measured by actions alone; motives must be assessed to determine what is loving.”
When reflecting upon how this truth applies to my own life, I must ask myself: When I give my time to my kids but do it with an attitude of irritability and resentment, am I really loving them? When I let out harsh words toward my husband, but inwardly justify it by the thought that I would really do anything for him, am I really loving him? When someone hurts me and I decide to “kill ‘em with kindness”, am I really loving them if my heart isn’t in it? Tough questions. But ones that we must ask ourselves if we want to grow in love the way Jesus loved.
So today I’m praying for myself—and for those I know and love—that we will demonstrate our commitment to Jesus to the world not only by how we help each other in the kitchen, watch each other’s kids, write on each other’s facebook wall, or pick up each other’s clothes and toys, but also by the attitude of our hearts. May the words of [our] mouth[s] and the meditation[s] of our heart[s] be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
No comments:
Post a Comment