Christ's Love

Love. . . Modern day society has taken this beautiful thing and so perverted it to where no one really knows what love is anymore. The only pure love that we can find as a model for our own lives is the love of Christ. A love that would drive him to a cross to die for someone who did not even yet exist. Are you kidding me???


A love to this degree in today's world is very hard to find. Yet in John 15:12 we find that we are commanded to "love one another as I have loved you" and five verses down we find the same command. How can we be expected to show a love in the same fashion that God showed for us? This seems to be impossible, but it is very obvious that Jesus does expect us, rather he "commands" us, to love just as he did. When you look throughout the Bible you will find that God shows us what his love is in I Corinthians 13:4-8.


Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails;


This is the love that Christ longs for us to have in our lives. A love that does not seek to take advantage of others, or is only there in times when it is convenient. This love places self aside and puts all focus on others. Without this love, as it says in I Corinthians 13, our life is as nothing. Even if we have the gift of prophecy, or we have all knowledge, or have the faith to remove a mountain the Bible still says that we are nothing. This is the one thing that we must strive to have in our own lives because without it we are nothing.


Think on the love of Christ for a moment. Can you imagine being beaten with rods, being spit on, scourged with a terrible whip, and then nailed to a cross? And Jesus did that for those who would deny him and even for those who carried out his punishment. Could you even do that for the one who you love most in your life? It is very easy to be the hero and say "of course I would do that," but when you really think about the things the Jesus went through at Calvary it becomes harder and harder to be so dogmatic in that assumption.


I have really felt God dealing with me about his love lately. It seems like every time I kneel to pray that I have this desire for God to let HIS love shine through my life. I have been praying for those who are lost, but God keeps putting it in my heart to just love them as He does. There is no way that I could ever fully comprehend Christ's love, but I believe that God is helping me to have His love in my life. Every time I let my mind rest on it I get overwhelmed with the beauty of his pure love. And here I am, a sorry human, "commanded" by Christ to love as he did.


A Christlike love will do more than any other single thing in an effort to reach a lost soul. However, this love does not come without a burden. II Corinthians 5:14 says that the love of Christ "constraineth" us. This love has to consume us, and we must let it shine through us in every part of our lives. Love your enemies, love your neighbors, love your coworkers, let Christ's love rule your life. Remember that if you can give someone just a model of Christ's love, how much more they are going to want the genuine thing. In a world that doesn't show a caring and compassionate love, Christ love is the tool that can bring the lost sinner to the beauty of Calvary and salvation. Without the love of Christ in our life evangelism is non-existent.


"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God. . ." Ephesians 5:1-2


food for thought: Romans 8:35-39
book recommendation: Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris
quote of the post:
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, spread His praise from shore to shore!
How He loveth, ever loveth, changeth never, nevermore!
How He watches o'er His loved ones, died to call them all His own;
How for them He intercedeth, watcheth o'er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
'Tis an ocean vast of blessing, 'tis a haven sweet of rest!
O the deep, deep love of Jesus, 'tis a heaven of heavens to me;
And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee!

Samuel Trevor Francis