Love like Jesus!
Love is a profound topic. We all love love. But in spite of the Bible teaching on love from cover to cover, Christians often remain lackadaisical about putting it into practice. Let’s see it through the eyes of Jesus. Jesus gave a new commandment to His disciples. He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:34,35).
What is new about it? We all know that from time immemorial we have been taught to love one another (Lev 19:18). Jesus added a new dimension to the old commandment and made it a new commandment. Earlier, it was love that was humanly possible. But Jesus raised the standard and said, “as I have loved you,” setting a pattern of divine love. We must learn His ways and imbibe His spirit. Teaching is pretty thin stuff unless mixed with experience and we know the love teachings of Jesus are amalgamated with love experiences.
Love is abstract, an intangible factor, a mysterious something that turns your heart. You cannot see love unless you show it. It is like water in an overhead tank. You don’t see the water up there unless you open the tap down here. How do we show our love? A full fledged grin will erase the gulf between two. Running over to someone to take his/her hand in ours will result in immediate bonding of hearts. A happy prattle, a hug with ardour, an uplifting compliment, a help in need, a drop of tear for those in trouble will open the tap to reveal the reservoir of love flowing out. You never run out of ideas to express love. Such love in bloom will reveal to the entire world that we are truly the disciples of Christ.
In a village where we have a church, after the service, the tribal believers shake hands, smile, hug and chat with the fellow believers. The bemused neighbours seeing such exotic expressions exclaim,
“How these people love one another!” They were so different earlier. Now to the surprise of their old friends their lives have been transformed into a cascade of love.
“Jesus wept. Then the Jews said: See, how He loved him!” (Jn 11:35,36). Note the exclamation mark there. It was not the ordinary human love. It was something that made them utter in surprise. Jesus’ teaching on love was not mere armchair reflections.
Love fixes wheels to your shoes as you run after God.
He practised it. In these days of increasing militancy towards preaching the gospel, the world is watching Christians under a microscope. Are we the ordinary thief-love-thief disciples or is there something preternatural about our love?
If we want to emulate the ‘Love Messiah’ first of all we must know how He loved. We shall meditate the steps which portray the unfolding development of His love.
He first loved us.
“We love Him because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19).
Jesus took the first step to love us. I imagine, one day God asked Him, “My Son, I’ve tried all possible means to get humanity back to me, but all my efforts have been futile. I have one last hope and that is You! Will You go to earth, be born as a human being, live and die for these people who have no love for God?” The answer of Jesus Christ to Father God was Christmas. Thus Jesus initiated the way—The Love- Way. Jesus first loved us.
Jesus teaches us to take the first step to love people whether they are fellow believers or unbelievers. How enthusiastic we are to meet friends and kith. We so immerse ourselves in hugging and enquiring and exchanging pleasantries that we forget about the friendless people around us. One day after the church service I noticed an young dispirited girl standing alone. When I struck a conversation with her, her eyes became full and lips trembled. “I have been attending this church for the past six months and you are the first person to talk to me,” she said. I was ashamed of myself. For six months she had been looking around for friendship that was tantalizingly near. When I brought her home she dissolved in tears as she poured out her tale of woe. Her cup of sorrow was overflowing. My heart was wrenched with a kind of sadness I had never known. Oh how we who call ourselves believers fail to reach out to loveless lonely people!
A beatific smile is the shortest distance between two hearts. Don’t skimp on love. We don’t lose anything by smiling at strangers whom we would like to get to know or to whom we would like to introduce Christ. They may hesitate to smile back or look behind their shoulders to see who we are smiling at. Let your eyes convey the message. Take his/her hand in yours and introduce yourself. Start a conversation. This is how Jesus started a relationship with the Samaritan woman which culminated in the salvation of a village.
Do you cherish memories of old comradeship that sweetened life, now bitter and broken? Right now decide to visit their homes and renew the relationship before it developes irreparable breaches.
If more time lapses the chasm will widen. Be bold to take the first step. Let not their nonchalant reaction throw you off. If you have an enemy, love could be the most devastating weapon of all. If you have any problem loving anybody get down on your knees and read 1 Corinthians chapter 13. When you get up from your knees you will be a transformed personality. After writing at length about the gifts of the Spirit Paul says, “And yet I show you a more EXCELLENT way” (1 Cor 12:31). Then he proceeds to speak on love (1 Cor 13). Before starting to speak on gifts again, he says, “Pursue love” (1 Cor 14:1). Most of us are afraid to take the risk of being rebuffed when we take the first step. The love-apostle John goes to the heart of the matter when he says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says: I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 Jn 4:18- 20). John’s words are like a golden chain with verse 19 hanging inbetween like a diamond pendant. When love galvanizes you to action swallow your false ego and mop away all fear from your heart. If your love is rejected still you don’t lose anything.
Have in mind that some people are never going to love you back however much you love them. But as for you, remember that life is just a short dream and we are travellers floating down the river of time. There is nothing more damaging to this idyllic dream than the sharks of hatred. Develop perfect fearless love. Let His love flow through you to that person to bless him. Allow God to use you as an unrestricted channel of His love for him. If you take the first step to love and face problems you can always tackle those problems. Fear predominates only when something is beyond your control. You cannot love God without loving your brother or sister.
An adolescent girl was stalked by a married man. When she took the matter to her parents, they confronted him and the problem was settled. But whenever the pastor spoke on loving others this girl was filled with guilt. With some counselling finally she was able to sort out the ambivalence and understand that what she did was right and she truly loved him and his family by rejecting his love. You need to be wise with people who love you for the wrong reasons. Even some adults have difficulty discerning the proper kind of love and get into messy affairs. So our love needs to be sensible too.Hatred holds the soul of many in an iron grip.
There is so much of bickering among siblings, so much quarelling among husbands and wives, fractured relationship between church members and lovelessness at all levels. Do not wait for the other person to come to you to make amends. Blessed are you if you unashamedly take the first step to go to him and articulate the impossible words. Good intentions and feelings at times are of greater consequence than the awkwardness of their expression. Whoever goes down first is superman in God’s sight.
If you see non-christians, let love flow out of your heart. Give them a helping hand if they are struggling. Go near them and talk if they are aloof. Love makes the world go around. This is the Jesus love. It is because He loved us first that we fell in love with Him in response. Just imagine, if He had not loved us first! We would be lost, lost, lost forever. Just the same way many are lost because we fail to first love them. There is misunderstaning, division and disunity among disciples making the world wonder if we are truly disciples of Jesus Christ. Let us first love others.
He continued to love us.
“God demonstrates His love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). The Christmas story does not stop at the manger.
Even though in response to God’s plea Jesus came down to be born as a human being He had to face lot of disappointments. His love was not received properly. He came to His own, but His own did not recive Him (Jn 1:11). Think of it. How will you feel if you go to your brother’s house and he slams the door on your face? Jesus did not give up. Hecontinued to love us. There was no miraculous overwhelming response to His divine love. His own family and disciples had a hard time believing Him. Still He continued to love them.
Love is the basis for any lasting relationship. To begin it is child’s play. Can you continue to love the person you started to love? To continue is a harder task. I loved the poor and started serving them. But when they lied, cheated and accused me, my love detracted and I sometimes found it hard to be civil.
It is doubly hard to continue love. Alone in my room, my heart would melt for those who did not know how to respond to true love because they had not tasted the love of Christ. It took me a lot of determination and self-discipline to continue love. Jesus ought to have given up on me long long ago. But oh, no. He continued to love me and brought me thus far in Christian life. What should I have done differently in my 20s and 30s if I had known then what I know now? For one thing, I would have loved more.
When we start a relationship there’s bound to be problems. New shoes always hurt and all human relationships have rough patches. As we come closer and closer we see what kind of sinners they are, their wrong attitudes, their deceptions, garrulousness, sharp tongue, lying and what not.
May be she backbites or he boozes. Then our hearts shut down. Our initial flush of enthusiasm wanes and we think; “I never ever imagined she is so malicious and nasty. Had I known I would never have started it all. I am so disappointed and let down.”
That is the rule. But you must decide to become the exception to the rule by developing a thick skin. Marriages have fallen apart for lack of continuing love. When they marry they know very little about each other and so love flows freely. But as days roll by they come to discover the negative aspects of each other and shrink from one another. Many come to the conclusion that they have married the wrong person and the romance wilts. But the love like Jesus’ will immediately kick them on to a much higher level and contribute to the permanence of their marriage.
To continue to love your parents may be a challenge and to love your children at any cost may be a hilarious feat.
Take the example of Paul and John Mark. When Paul first met John he was taken up by that young man. Immediately, without interview he recruited the stalwart fellow in his missionary team (Acts 12:25). When they came to Pamphilia John Mark did not feel like continuing with the big brothers—Paul and Barnabas. We do not know the reason. We can only guess that inspite of cajoling and begging he decided to leave the team, incurring the wrath of Paul. You can imagine the hot-blooded Paul griping. Now the soft-hearted Barnabas had to cool down Paul. When it was time for the next trip Paul would hear none of the sweet talk of Barnabas. He flatly refused to have John go with them. It is clear as crystal that by then John had once again started showing interest in missionary work. But Paul was not ready to forgive and forget the past. There was a sharp contention. Finally Barnabas took John Mark and sailed to Cyprus. It was Barnabas who decided to continue to love John Mark and demonstrated to Paul, the healing power of forgiveness.
What was the effect of this love? It took some time for Paul to get reconciled to the idea of including Mark with the missionary numbers. He instructed the Colossian church to welcome him (Col 4:10).
Later he wrote to Timothy, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim 4:11). It took a long long time for Paul to pull out the root of bitterness from his heart. May be from the lesson he learnt from John Mark, Paul treated Timothy as his son and Timothy’s timid nature was overlooked. How many young people we lose because we first love them and then leave them in the lurch, unable to continue to love them after seeing their weaknesses, shortcomings and sins. Human brain has a limit but human heart does not. There is no end of the extra mile for love. Love is never enough, so love more and more. Paul matured in love and wrote to the Colossians, “Above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (3:14). Let us continue to love our coworkers, friends, children, spouses, believers, unbelievers whom we first loved. Let nothing hamper the relationship. This silent voice of love will have a profound impact.
He loved us to the end.
“Before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1).
The lesson for us does not need to be spelled out. It hits us right in the heart. But the idea may sound outlandish. You may start to love. You may even continue to love with some struggle. But the apex of it all is love to the end. Jesus knew His endtime had come. There was nothing much for Him to appreciate in His disciples. Rather He was disappointed with them. They fought among themselves. There was rivalry and strife. They would listen to all the sermons of Jesus and yet like to bring down fire to incinerate their enemies. There was so much to dry up the last drop of love that Jesus had for them. But no. The unconditional love of Jesus for them was growing all the time. He taught us never to give up on anyone. When you say someone is useless you are slamming the door in the face of God.
Jesus knew they would sleep in the garden of Gethsemane. He knew Judas would betray Him. He chose them and called them His friends (Jn 15:15).
Did the relationship change when Judas betrayed Him? Jesus called Judas His friend even after the bitter betrayal in the presence of His entourage. Probably it was this gesture that sparked the remorse that paved the path to his confession.
When the Bishop saw Jeanvalgin, he instantly loved him. Even after hearing his story he treated him with a good supper and continued to love him.
That was not great. But when the police caught Jeanvalgin with the bishop’s silver candlesticks, what made the bishop to tell the police that they were his gifts to the convict? It was the ultimate love of Jesus. When friends knife you in the back, when loved ones betray you, don’t post-mortem the event; but let the deep, deep love of Jesus enclose you in its embrace. We want everyone to love us as they love themselves. We want all to love us however we may be. Should we not love others the same way? ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ is in our lips. It has not even come down to our throat. When will it reach our hearts, our hands, our feet?
The pinnacle of love-statement that Jesus made is in Matthew 5:44-48. “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;... For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Exhibition of such love will make you a Gulliver and your enemy a Lilliputian in his own eyes. “What the world really needs is more love and less paper work” says Pearl Bailey.
You may be confused as to how you can love and once again forgive and trust the person who thrust the sword through your heart. Remember love, forgiveness and trust are three different virtues. You need not trust the one you forgive or love. “If the same person deceives you twice, then may be you deserve it” says Carlos Martinez Vazquez. So be wary. How did Jesus love us? He says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you” (Jn 15:9). There is no comparison to the love Father God has for His Son Jesus Christ. Just imagine! Jesus Christ loves us exactly the same way. Excellent! Isn’t it? Are you thrilled? Just a minute. This is the way to love others.
Here’s the handwriting on the wall—“Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Mt 24:12,13). Christians who do not practice the love of Jesus are bogus. This kind of Master’s style love is the yardstick of Christian maturity. The quagmire of lovelessness has vaccum-sucked many even active Christians. These are the last days. The love of believers is under fiery trial. The love candle is flickering in the souls of many and is already dead in some hearts. Will your love be there with flags flying when your life is done?
Taking the first step to love is school final in love. Continuing to love the person is graduation in love. To love to the end is Ph.D in love. Let us pour our whole heart into achieving the doctorate and let love become the whole philosophy of our lives. That can put the spring back into our feet and bloom into our cheeks. The one who is in love with love is a lovely person.
The world loves its own. It stops loving the unloveable. It hates the betrayers. The world is watching the disciples to see if their love is any different. Is your love any better? Do you love like Jesus?
“When love is your greatest weakness you will be the strongest person in the world!” —Garman Wold
Dr. Lilian Stanley
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
Blessing Youth Mission
13 Church Colony
Vellore 632006, India
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Love like Jesus!
Love is a profound topic. We all love love. But in spite of the Bible teaching on love from cover to cover, Christians often remain lackadaisical about putting it into practice. Let’s see it through the eyes of Jesus. Jesus gave a new commandment to His disciples. He said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn 13:34,35).
What is new about it? We all know that from time immemorial we have been taught to love one another (Lev 19:18). Jesus added a new dimension to the old commandment and made it a new commandment. Earlier, it was love that was humanly possible. But Jesus raised the standard and said, “as I have loved you,” setting a pattern of divine love. We must learn His ways and imbibe His spirit. Teaching is pretty thin stuff unless mixed with experience and we know the love teachings of Jesus are amalgamated with love experiences.
Love is abstract, an intangible factor, a mysterious something that turns your heart. You cannot see love unless you show it. It is like water in an overhead tank. You don’t see the water up there unless you open the tap down here. How do we show our love? A full fledged grin will erase the gulf between two. Running over to someone to take his/her hand in ours will result in immediate bonding of hearts. A happy prattle, a hug with ardour, an uplifting compliment, a help in need, a drop of tear for those in trouble will open the tap to reveal the reservoir of love flowing out. You never run out of ideas to express love. Such love in bloom will reveal to the entire world that we are truly the disciples of Christ.
In a village where we have a church, after the service, the tribal believers shake hands, smile, hug and chat with the fellow believers. The bemused neighbours seeing such exotic expressions exclaim,
“How these people love one another!” They were so different earlier. Now to the surprise of their old friends their lives have been transformed into a cascade of love.
“Jesus wept. Then the Jews said: See, how He loved him!” (Jn 11:35,36). Note the exclamation mark there. It was not the ordinary human love. It was something that made them utter in surprise. Jesus’ teaching on love was not mere armchair reflections.
Love fixes wheels to your shoes as you run after God.
He practised it. In these days of increasing militancy towards preaching the gospel, the world is watching Christians under a microscope. Are we the ordinary thief-love-thief disciples or is there something preternatural about our love?
If we want to emulate the ‘Love Messiah’ first of all we must know how He loved. We shall meditate the steps which portray the unfolding development of His love.
He first loved us.
“We love Him because He first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19).
Jesus took the first step to love us. I imagine, one day God asked Him, “My Son, I’ve tried all possible means to get humanity back to me, but all my efforts have been futile. I have one last hope and that is You! Will You go to earth, be born as a human being, live and die for these people who have no love for God?” The answer of Jesus Christ to Father God was Christmas. Thus Jesus initiated the way—The Love- Way. Jesus first loved us.
Jesus teaches us to take the first step to love people whether they are fellow believers or unbelievers. How enthusiastic we are to meet friends and kith. We so immerse ourselves in hugging and enquiring and exchanging pleasantries that we forget about the friendless people around us. One day after the church service I noticed an young dispirited girl standing alone. When I struck a conversation with her, her eyes became full and lips trembled. “I have been attending this church for the past six months and you are the first person to talk to me,” she said. I was ashamed of myself. For six months she had been looking around for friendship that was tantalizingly near. When I brought her home she dissolved in tears as she poured out her tale of woe. Her cup of sorrow was overflowing. My heart was wrenched with a kind of sadness I had never known. Oh how we who call ourselves believers fail to reach out to loveless lonely people!
A beatific smile is the shortest distance between two hearts. Don’t skimp on love. We don’t lose anything by smiling at strangers whom we would like to get to know or to whom we would like to introduce Christ. They may hesitate to smile back or look behind their shoulders to see who we are smiling at. Let your eyes convey the message. Take his/her hand in yours and introduce yourself. Start a conversation. This is how Jesus started a relationship with the Samaritan woman which culminated in the salvation of a village.
Do you cherish memories of old comradeship that sweetened life, now bitter and broken? Right now decide to visit their homes and renew the relationship before it developes irreparable breaches.
If more time lapses the chasm will widen. Be bold to take the first step. Let not their nonchalant reaction throw you off. If you have an enemy, love could be the most devastating weapon of all. If you have any problem loving anybody get down on your knees and read 1 Corinthians chapter 13. When you get up from your knees you will be a transformed personality. After writing at length about the gifts of the Spirit Paul says, “And yet I show you a more EXCELLENT way” (1 Cor 12:31). Then he proceeds to speak on love (1 Cor 13). Before starting to speak on gifts again, he says, “Pursue love” (1 Cor 14:1). Most of us are afraid to take the risk of being rebuffed when we take the first step. The love-apostle John goes to the heart of the matter when he says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. If someone says: I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 Jn 4:18- 20). John’s words are like a golden chain with verse 19 hanging inbetween like a diamond pendant. When love galvanizes you to action swallow your false ego and mop away all fear from your heart. If your love is rejected still you don’t lose anything.
Have in mind that some people are never going to love you back however much you love them. But as for you, remember that life is just a short dream and we are travellers floating down the river of time. There is nothing more damaging to this idyllic dream than the sharks of hatred. Develop perfect fearless love. Let His love flow through you to that person to bless him. Allow God to use you as an unrestricted channel of His love for him. If you take the first step to love and face problems you can always tackle those problems. Fear predominates only when something is beyond your control. You cannot love God without loving your brother or sister.
An adolescent girl was stalked by a married man. When she took the matter to her parents, they confronted him and the problem was settled. But whenever the pastor spoke on loving others this girl was filled with guilt. With some counselling finally she was able to sort out the ambivalence and understand that what she did was right and she truly loved him and his family by rejecting his love. You need to be wise with people who love you for the wrong reasons. Even some adults have difficulty discerning the proper kind of love and get into messy affairs. So our love needs to be sensible too.Hatred holds the soul of many in an iron grip.
There is so much of bickering among siblings, so much quarelling among husbands and wives, fractured relationship between church members and lovelessness at all levels. Do not wait for the other person to come to you to make amends. Blessed are you if you unashamedly take the first step to go to him and articulate the impossible words. Good intentions and feelings at times are of greater consequence than the awkwardness of their expression. Whoever goes down first is superman in God’s sight.
If you see non-christians, let love flow out of your heart. Give them a helping hand if they are struggling. Go near them and talk if they are aloof. Love makes the world go around. This is the Jesus love. It is because He loved us first that we fell in love with Him in response. Just imagine, if He had not loved us first! We would be lost, lost, lost forever. Just the same way many are lost because we fail to first love them. There is misunderstaning, division and disunity among disciples making the world wonder if we are truly disciples of Jesus Christ. Let us first love others.
He continued to love us.
“God demonstrates His love towards us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). The Christmas story does not stop at the manger.
Even though in response to God’s plea Jesus came down to be born as a human being He had to face lot of disappointments. His love was not received properly. He came to His own, but His own did not recive Him (Jn 1:11). Think of it. How will you feel if you go to your brother’s house and he slams the door on your face? Jesus did not give up. Hecontinued to love us. There was no miraculous overwhelming response to His divine love. His own family and disciples had a hard time believing Him. Still He continued to love them.
Love is the basis for any lasting relationship. To begin it is child’s play. Can you continue to love the person you started to love? To continue is a harder task. I loved the poor and started serving them. But when they lied, cheated and accused me, my love detracted and I sometimes found it hard to be civil.
It is doubly hard to continue love. Alone in my room, my heart would melt for those who did not know how to respond to true love because they had not tasted the love of Christ. It took me a lot of determination and self-discipline to continue love. Jesus ought to have given up on me long long ago. But oh, no. He continued to love me and brought me thus far in Christian life. What should I have done differently in my 20s and 30s if I had known then what I know now? For one thing, I would have loved more.
When we start a relationship there’s bound to be problems. New shoes always hurt and all human relationships have rough patches. As we come closer and closer we see what kind of sinners they are, their wrong attitudes, their deceptions, garrulousness, sharp tongue, lying and what not.
May be she backbites or he boozes. Then our hearts shut down. Our initial flush of enthusiasm wanes and we think; “I never ever imagined she is so malicious and nasty. Had I known I would never have started it all. I am so disappointed and let down.”
That is the rule. But you must decide to become the exception to the rule by developing a thick skin. Marriages have fallen apart for lack of continuing love. When they marry they know very little about each other and so love flows freely. But as days roll by they come to discover the negative aspects of each other and shrink from one another. Many come to the conclusion that they have married the wrong person and the romance wilts. But the love like Jesus’ will immediately kick them on to a much higher level and contribute to the permanence of their marriage.
To continue to love your parents may be a challenge and to love your children at any cost may be a hilarious feat.
Take the example of Paul and John Mark. When Paul first met John he was taken up by that young man. Immediately, without interview he recruited the stalwart fellow in his missionary team (Acts 12:25). When they came to Pamphilia John Mark did not feel like continuing with the big brothers—Paul and Barnabas. We do not know the reason. We can only guess that inspite of cajoling and begging he decided to leave the team, incurring the wrath of Paul. You can imagine the hot-blooded Paul griping. Now the soft-hearted Barnabas had to cool down Paul. When it was time for the next trip Paul would hear none of the sweet talk of Barnabas. He flatly refused to have John go with them. It is clear as crystal that by then John had once again started showing interest in missionary work. But Paul was not ready to forgive and forget the past. There was a sharp contention. Finally Barnabas took John Mark and sailed to Cyprus. It was Barnabas who decided to continue to love John Mark and demonstrated to Paul, the healing power of forgiveness.
What was the effect of this love? It took some time for Paul to get reconciled to the idea of including Mark with the missionary numbers. He instructed the Colossian church to welcome him (Col 4:10).
Later he wrote to Timothy, “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Tim 4:11). It took a long long time for Paul to pull out the root of bitterness from his heart. May be from the lesson he learnt from John Mark, Paul treated Timothy as his son and Timothy’s timid nature was overlooked. How many young people we lose because we first love them and then leave them in the lurch, unable to continue to love them after seeing their weaknesses, shortcomings and sins. Human brain has a limit but human heart does not. There is no end of the extra mile for love. Love is never enough, so love more and more. Paul matured in love and wrote to the Colossians, “Above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection” (3:14). Let us continue to love our coworkers, friends, children, spouses, believers, unbelievers whom we first loved. Let nothing hamper the relationship. This silent voice of love will have a profound impact.
He loved us to the end.
“Before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1).
The lesson for us does not need to be spelled out. It hits us right in the heart. But the idea may sound outlandish. You may start to love. You may even continue to love with some struggle. But the apex of it all is love to the end. Jesus knew His endtime had come. There was nothing much for Him to appreciate in His disciples. Rather He was disappointed with them. They fought among themselves. There was rivalry and strife. They would listen to all the sermons of Jesus and yet like to bring down fire to incinerate their enemies. There was so much to dry up the last drop of love that Jesus had for them. But no. The unconditional love of Jesus for them was growing all the time. He taught us never to give up on anyone. When you say someone is useless you are slamming the door in the face of God.
Jesus knew they would sleep in the garden of Gethsemane. He knew Judas would betray Him. He chose them and called them His friends (Jn 15:15).
Did the relationship change when Judas betrayed Him? Jesus called Judas His friend even after the bitter betrayal in the presence of His entourage. Probably it was this gesture that sparked the remorse that paved the path to his confession.
When the Bishop saw Jeanvalgin, he instantly loved him. Even after hearing his story he treated him with a good supper and continued to love him.
That was not great. But when the police caught Jeanvalgin with the bishop’s silver candlesticks, what made the bishop to tell the police that they were his gifts to the convict? It was the ultimate love of Jesus. When friends knife you in the back, when loved ones betray you, don’t post-mortem the event; but let the deep, deep love of Jesus enclose you in its embrace. We want everyone to love us as they love themselves. We want all to love us however we may be. Should we not love others the same way? ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’ is in our lips. It has not even come down to our throat. When will it reach our hearts, our hands, our feet?
The pinnacle of love-statement that Jesus made is in Matthew 5:44-48. “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;... For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” Exhibition of such love will make you a Gulliver and your enemy a Lilliputian in his own eyes. “What the world really needs is more love and less paper work” says Pearl Bailey.
You may be confused as to how you can love and once again forgive and trust the person who thrust the sword through your heart. Remember love, forgiveness and trust are three different virtues. You need not trust the one you forgive or love. “If the same person deceives you twice, then may be you deserve it” says Carlos Martinez Vazquez. So be wary. How did Jesus love us? He says, “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you” (Jn 15:9). There is no comparison to the love Father God has for His Son Jesus Christ. Just imagine! Jesus Christ loves us exactly the same way. Excellent! Isn’t it? Are you thrilled? Just a minute. This is the way to love others.
Here’s the handwriting on the wall—“Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved” (Mt 24:12,13). Christians who do not practice the love of Jesus are bogus. This kind of Master’s style love is the yardstick of Christian maturity. The quagmire of lovelessness has vaccum-sucked many even active Christians. These are the last days. The love of believers is under fiery trial. The love candle is flickering in the souls of many and is already dead in some hearts. Will your love be there with flags flying when your life is done?
Taking the first step to love is school final in love. Continuing to love the person is graduation in love. To love to the end is Ph.D in love. Let us pour our whole heart into achieving the doctorate and let love become the whole philosophy of our lives. That can put the spring back into our feet and bloom into our cheeks. The one who is in love with love is a lovely person.
The world loves its own. It stops loving the unloveable. It hates the betrayers. The world is watching the disciples to see if their love is any different. Is your love any better? Do you love like Jesus?
“When love is your greatest weakness you will be the strongest person in the world!” —Garman Wold
Dr. Lilian Stanley
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Vellore 632006, India
+91 9843511943
lilianstanley@gmail.com
Blessing Youth Mission
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