Reciprocating the love of Christ in a broken and hopeless world - 1.
Have you ever considered the kind of love that propelled and pushed Jesus to the cross even though He had the option to turn down the degree of anguish He was about to face, the kind of love that would make a man die for the same people who placed no value on the price he was about to pay? Well, that’s something that would take us an eternity to fathom, understanding the reckless love of the father is something that could take one a whole lifetime to understand.
The gospel of Jesus Christ will always remain the greatest love story ever and I believe this is one of the reasons most people present the gospel in three simple yet unfathomable words “Jesus Loves You”. These words were not just directed to the good righteous Christian in the church today or the unrighteous unsaved thief who was hanging next to Jesus on the cross some 2000 years ago; they were meant for every human being on the face of the earth, the price that Jesus paid, was for the salvation of all humanity.
After paying such a great price for salvation, what does Jesus expect of those who have become partakers and heirs of the promise?
Without what Jesus did, we would never have had an example of what genuine love ought to look like. Jesus set the bar so high by dying for us that we could never even attempt to love in the same way unless we first accepted His love and allowed it to truly find expression in us. Paul, one of the Apostles who experienced the love of God in such a powerful way, instructs us to love extravagantly, this would entail loving consistently irrespective of the response or attitude of others towards us. But did He only mean our loved ones or close friends? Well, let’s see what Jesus has to say about this.
If we merely love our friends and family, what makes us different from unbelievers or people who have not yet experienced God’s love and saving grace? We are required to love as Jesus did. He is the object of our faith, our model, and our example for Christian living; He loved those who sought his own life. Even in the Old Testament, we find a God who loved His people so much that He yearned to see them reconciled to Him despite their rebellion and straying away to idolatry. How do you interact with others? Do you love passionately? Are you always willing to forgive? Are you tolerant of other people’s inconsistencies? We must constantly ask ourselves these questions to keep our spiritual state of mind aligned with God’s heart. In a world that typically lacks these virtues, we should be a shining example of God’s love and forgiveness.
It is simple to become self-absorbed throughout the week and forget that Jesus Christ commanded us to love others as ourselves. What is your typical response when people offend you? Do you slam it all in their face, declare that they are horrible individuals, and then proceed to make them feel bad about themselves?
When we lose sight of what God has done for us in Christ; not counting our sins and transgressions against us, how he has held nothing against us and made us new creations in him, it is easy to become selfish and self-absorbed, deciding who deserves what and why. This sends us on a downward spiral where we become increasingly judgmental and mistreat others.
In 1 Samuel 30:22, we see how all the wicked and worthless men who accompanied David to battle tried to persuade Him not to divide the spoils of war with those who stayed home. However, we see David reflecting on what God had done for them, how God had preserved and given them victory, and he swiftly scolded them, making sure everyone shared the spoils evenly. I believe this is the kind of life Jesus has invited all of us to; unreservedly loving people regardless of the surrounding situations. Jesus invites us to love everyone, regardless of our opinions of them or how deserving or undeserving they may appear to be. Remember that Christ died for us long before we ever realized we had a problem and provided a solution to humanity’s single most prominent problem — sin.
Have you ever wondered why all of Jesus’ commandments were condensed to simply one commandment; Love? I believe the reason is that if we prioritize loving God and those around us, it will be very difficult for us to stray from our course and purpose on earth. When we love the poor man in need on the street as Jesus would, we will not be able to ignore them when we have enough to give to them (1 John 3:17 But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?). When we love our friends, lying to them or backbiting them will be impossible. When we allow the love of God and the love for others to fully permeate our hearts, every fear, doubt, or argument against God’s love and faithfulness towards us is silenced, and we have such strong confidence to go before God
Most of the time, we give into the temptation to love only those who are close to us or who share our interests, but this is not what God wants. Instead, God wants us to extend His love to everyone we come into contact with in any way we can, and by doing so, we can help others understand His irrational love for humanity through the example of our lives because the Bible states that as He is, so are we on earth (1 John 4:17). Jesus even went as far as telling us to love our enemies. You may ask, how is it possible for you to love someone that hates you so badly, Well, that’s why He sent His Holy Spirit to live in us and guide us. Our typical fleshly man might not want to do that, but the Holy Spirit’s anointing upon our lives is God’s empowerment upon us, enabling us to do all things through the strength of God, making it easier for us to love. Love is now a fruit of our born-again spirit and it is God’s invitation to the believer to lay down his preferences and radically love others as Christ would.
Today, the world is filled with people who are self-centered and care so little about others. The most exciting part about this is that the bible already predicted that in the last days, the love of many would grow cold, this is the exact predicted culture of humanity at the end of the age. As you go about your normal dealings remember that if we claim to love God and do not love the people around us, we lie and the truth is not in us because we cannot claim to love God whom we’ve not seen and not love the people we come across every day, show some acts of love to someone today.
