Note: These are the thoughts of my
heart on what the Lord has been teaching me lately and thus will probably come
out very scattered as I attempt to put them into words. You’ve been warned…
More and more I find myself realizing the
costliness of love. I don’t know why such truth surprises me for it cost Jesus
his very life. I feel like this is one of those things you can spend your
whole life learning and it will never get boring.
Anyways, in Philippians Paul talks about knowing
the death of Jesus that he may also share in his resurrection.
Dying with Jesus so he may be raised up in his life. Renewed. Redeemed.
Transformed.
For so long I grazed over those words about sharing
in the death and suffering of Jesus. Oversimplified in my mind, I gave no
further thought to the power and gripping reality of those words.
And now it’s smacking me in the face in sweet revelation.
Sharing in the sufferings and death of the Son of
God. Following after him in the way of love that costs you everything. Denying
yourself and taking up the cross of grace that counts others as more important
than yourself. Letting go of expectations, rights, any sense of entitlement,
and offering yourself as a living sacrifice in the name of love and the
kingdom. Following after a Savior who with his dying breath gave life to the
entire human race. He died for the ungrateful and undeserving. He died for
those who thrust the crown of thorns on his head and drove the nails into his
hands and feet.
Why? Because he is love.
Because he knew his sacrifice would reconcile child
to Father. His blood would bring redemption and restoration to a relationship
broken long ago, a relationship that is in itself the very fullness of life. He
died so that we may know the breadth, length, height, and depth of this
steadfast love that never fails. The love our hearts were made to beat for. The
love that gives life to our dry bones.
He didn’t die for himself. He died for us.
And he calls us now to follow after him, empowered
by his Spirit of love within us to offer ourselves for one another as he did.
For he knows that in losing our lives, we find it more brilliant and beautiful
than we could have ever imagined.
But, in order to join in his newness of life, we
must first die to ourselves. We must love recklessly and unconditionally as he
did. To love those we may deem unlovable. To love those who have hurt us and
left us with scars to remember. To those who may never appreciate or
acknowledge the sacrifice and heartache we’ve endured. And in those moments,
his grace descends on us like manna from heaven, strengthening us to do that
which is far beyond our human limitations. Giving unto others what they may not
deserve, not for the sake of getting something in return, but out of a desire
to live and love selflessly like Jesus.
Love is not self-seeking. It is self-denial.
Loving people more and needing them less, for you
are rooted, grounded, and eternally satisfied in the God of love himself. No
longer do you need to love in order to fill some holes in your heart, for you
have been swept up in your identity as the beloved of Christ, the fullness of
all in all. His love is the living water that once tasted will never
leave you thirsty again.
Saturated in his love for us, we are then free to
love one another recklessly as he does. Free to offer ourselves as he did over
and over again, for the power of the resurrection is within you. Free to drown
in the ocean of God’s grace as he breathes his very life into your lungs.
Yes, love may cost you everything. Grace may demand
your all, even your very life. But it is only in dying to ourselves that we can
truly come alive, taking hold of our divine destinies as sons and daughters of
the King of kings. And there is no other call so worthy and glorious.
May we freely give as we have
been so freely given.
And he said to all,
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever
loses his life for my sake will save it.” Luke 9:23-24
