The joy of expensive love

Good morning,

This week in America we will be celebrating a special holiday called Valentine’s Day that is designed to get us to focus on those we love and in some way tell them in words and with gifts that our love is genuine.  The symbol that we use here is a beautiful bright red heart, and candy and gifts often come in boxes in that shape.  Alas, for most people, the ideas that we have and the way we celebrate love comes from ideas that are far away from the original meaning of love that God gives us in his love letter to the world, The Bible.  In the Old Testament, the idea of love was linked to the idea of sacrifice in some form or other.  In the New Testament, the idea of God’s love was linked to a cruel cross that reminds us of the sacrifice Jesus made in his suffering and death in order to pay the full price for our sins.  God understood how trapped we were by sin, so he sent his one and only Son to give us eternal proof of his love.  He arranged for Jesus to die and then come back to life to offer us eternal life and eternal love if only we would trust him as Savior and Lord.

When Jesus tells us to take up our cross daily and follow him, the sign of our love is not a wooden cross.  The sign of our love is the way we live in our relationship with the problem people all around us.  Since we, like the people around us are problem people, we will not be able to love like God loves unless God’s Holy Spirit is allowed to take charge of our hearts and minds and do what is impossible without him.  It helps to remember that the same Holy Spirit that gave Jesus the strength to go to the cross, lives in God’s kids today and he will be able to show that same love through us as well.  It’s frustrating, even madness, to think that we can carry out his directions to the people in Colossians 3 in our own strength.  My sin nature is very strong and if you leave me to myself, living for myself, tired and frustrated, accusing and judging those around me, there is no way I can honestly follow these guidelines.  Mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience are not part of who I am when dealing with the problem people that God insists I love and serve.  I want other people to make allowances for me and forgive me gladly, but surely these folks don’t deserve that kind of treatment from me! Dear Lord, will you help us to understand how to clothe ourselves with your Holy Spirit empowered love so that we really do end up living in harmony with one another.

Colossians 3:12 Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. 13 Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. 14 Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.

Roy Wisner