Christ's Love
We talk about Christ’s death on the cross, what it means, His Love, and God’s love for us. What we don’t like to talk about as much is how we are called to show the same love He showed us.
The second most important command in the Bible, according to Jesus, is to “Love your neighbor as yourself,” (Mark 12:31) second only to the greatest command, loving the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. (Mark 12:30)
But, so often we don’t act out the love we are called to live out because it is uncomfortable, inconvenient, or we’re angry with someone who may have wronged us.
Most of the time we put ourselves first just because we’re humans and that’s our nature. We have places to go, things to do, and going out of our way to help and love others becomes inconvenient and neglected. Often, when we do know help is needed, it’s so uncomfortable for us to help others because it’s not the popular thing to do. Galatians 6:2 tells us to “Share each other’s burdens, and in this way obey Christ.” When you find it tough to love others, remember everything Christ did. It wasn’t comfortable for him to come to this earth, but he did anyway. It wasn’t comfortable for him to constantly put others first and love others, even when other people hated him, but he did it anyway. It wasn’t comfortable for him to die the most painful death possible, having thorns placed on his head, being painfully gashed by a whip, and having his hands and feet nailed straight through into a wooden cross, all while being mocked and hated by his enemies. However, he did it anyway!
He did all of that because he loved us, not because it was comfortable or convenient. This is the love that he has called us to show to others in EVERYTHING that we do. When we die to our social status, success, money, and everything we have, then this life won’t mean more than it should. What will truly matter is if we lived our lives serving God with all we had and living a life of constantly putting others in front of ourselves.
So, my challenge to all of you is to love others, even when it’s inconvenient or uncomfortable, just as Christ did for us.
