John 7:27-33 (NIV) 27 "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour.
I John 3:16, 19, 23 (CEV) 16We know what love is because Jesus gave his life for us. That's why we must give our lives for each other. 19When we love others, we know that we belong to the truth, and we feel at ease in the presence of God. 23God wants us to have faith in his Son Jesus Christ and to love each other. This is also what Jesus taught us to do.
In the living Jesus we have a living model of what real love is, and this model of real love confronts many of the false images that can get hold of us today. Look at the life of Jesus. He gave. And he gave. He was under constant pressure to give, and he gave. He listened. He cared. And sometimes, at the right time, He gave Himself to solitude. He left the demands of the crowd to give Himself to God alone. He went to the mountains to get some God-given perspective on His calling to love.
The type of love we see in Jesus has been defined as a love in which we surrender our right to get what we desire so that the person we love can get what they need. It is rooted in the way Jesus gave His life in love for us. This definition gives a good focus on the true meaning of love, but it does not capture the truth of love we see in Jesus.
There is a balance and vitality to His giving that cannot be captured in a definition, but it is seen in His life. In Jesus we see a love that is confrontational, a confrontation born out of deep caring. Jesus confronts the false images of love in our society and in our hearts. When someone is addicted, a family member will often ask what he or she can do. And the answer is, “Love them like the Father of the Prodigal loved his son.” It is not an answer that people like, but it is an answer that is true to Jesus, and is proven true in the hard practicality of life.
Do we really get our understanding of love from Jesus? John is saying we have to see it to believe. And once we see it, let us not love with word or tongue, but in deed and in truth (I John 3:18 NKJV).
Jesus followed that teaching to the Cross. He gave Himself up for us all with no more certainty of what would happen than you or I would have had. At one point He even despaired, “My God, my God why have You forsaken Me?” But, He acted on what He knew, and God raised Him up.
Do and you will know.
From a sermon preached by Henry Dobbs Pope April 20, 1997
© Rhonda Hinkle Mitchell Broyles
No comments:
Post a Comment