I fully recognize that I am a sinner. I may not murder or steal, but I often harbor feelings of unrighteous anger for my brothers and sisters, and I certainly lie, covet, and blaspheme.
In spite of these failings, I have often thought of myself as being compassionate and full of love for others, at least before my depression swelled in recent years. But God has shown me that I have been greatly mistaken about this, and that I have never really loved anyone well – not God, not my family, not my friends, not strangers, and not even myself. In fact, I have probably loved myself worst of all. Above all, I have failed to love others by failing to seek their good. I have rarely put forth much of an effort to give God the praise and thanks He deserves, and I have rarely been grieved by the scourge of sin. I have held His gifts and His commands in low regard. I rarely thank Christ for His sacrifice for me. Do I not then hold His blood in low esteem and fail to love Him? Sadly, I think that the answer to this question is a resounding yes. I have rarely gone out of my way to comfort others, to build them up, and to mourn and rejoice with them. I have rarely been as concerned for their interests as I have been for my own. Do I have warm feelings for others? Yes, I certainly do. But how often have these feelings moved me to take time from my own life to care for others? Only rarely, I am afraid. No, I have not loved well at all.
I cannot define love, but I believe that true love involves willing the good for others for their own sake. God does this perfectly, and this is one of the many reasons why God Himself is perfect love. God wills the good of everyone and everything for its own sake. Christians often focus on the fact that God saves sinners, and this is true, but He also saves the entire world. When Christ returns, He will set everything right, and the whole world will be rescued from the ravages of sin. God doesn’t care only about us – He cares about the entire world. He will bandage every wound and exalt every plain. And yes, He will level every mountain – God’s love cannot be separated from His justice. All the same, God will purge the whole world of evil, and everything that remains will flourish brilliantly under His tender care. In the meantime, God calls sinners to Him. He calls us to salvation. And He does this because He loves us. He doesn’t call us because He is vain and needs creatures such as us to give Him worship. He calls us because He wills our good, and because He knows that we have no true good apart from Him. So strong and earnest is His concern for our good that He became man and suffered death for us, who have hated Him. God’s love is purely selfless – we can offer Him nothing of value in return for His love, and He knows this, but He loves us anyway. I do not think that there is anything more beautiful than selfless, self-sacrificing love, and such love can only be found in God.
Lord God, please help me to love you with my whole mind, heart, soul, and strength, and to love others and myself as Jesus loves them. Please help me to understand that in failing to put You and others before myself, I gain nothing but lose everything. Remove my pride and sense of injury. Remove my anxiety about my own affairs. Bring me out of myself. Give me a heart of pure, selfless love for You and all, myself included, and encourage me to go out into the world and start giving and serving. Finally, strengthen my steps, and help me to walk boldly with You in love. In Christ’s name I pray. Amen.
A very lovely post, Leslie :oP
ReplyDeleteThat word "love" is a tricky one. In the Greek language that was used for the NT there were 4 words that were translated into our English word "love", each denoting a different kind of affection or devotion depending on the relationship between the "lover" and his or her recipient. What most people today think of as love would be eros, or romantic love, and it is a very selfish and self-serving love that only seeks to bring that "love" to me, a passion that hungers to be filled, but never is, and he/she does not continue to "love" those who won't give the "lover" what he (or she) wants for him(or her)self.
Agape love is the love that Jesus has for His elect and for Israel. It is not self-serving, and it doesn't stop loving even though the love objects gives nothing but hatred and scorn in return. I think we can never be that perfectly loving while in our mortality. We certainly can strive to attain to it, but I think it will always be an elusive target to aim for ourselves to have. God is love, agape selfless love. If He enters into us we have a taste of that love. We give God's love to others when we tell them of His love (gospel). Will we do it perfectly? No. When others revile me for being honest and sharing something with them that gets thrown back in my face, my vanity is hurt and I want to return my hurt into their court. :( That is "natural", and it is wrong. It is that selfish, fleshy, self-serving "love" that isn't love at all, and in the end it is self-destructive, on that one you are so right.
God knows how we are, He loved us while we were His enemies, and died for us so that we would have a way to come out of this negative spiral of selfishness.
I like how one of my bloggy friends put it:
The more I learn about God the greater He becomes, and the greater He becomes, the less I become, and the less I become, the easier it is to serve Him. :)
Thank you for commenting. I think that you are exactly right - we will never love perfectly well this side of eternity, and it is very hard to subdue our pride and sense of injury. And what's true of the individual Christian is true of the church. It seems to me that the church as a whole often fails badly at showing selfless love to others. But the Holy Spirit is present in the church, and in all believers, and He is growing us all in sanctification.
DeleteBy the way, the quote from your bloggy friend is brilliant!
Found your blog through Dungy.
ReplyDeleteI must say, I admire your taking the time for introspection and self-reflection. The blogospere often suffers from a lack of that, and I'm often part of that problem.
Anyways, wise words on a worthy topic. Hope to see you around on here. Check my blog out sometime at johnstegeman.blogspot.com
Thanks John. Will do.
Delete