Love

Saturday I'll celebrate my grandmother's life...I miss her already. One of my favorite things about her was her love for others. That love your neighbor as yourself thing? She did that, and did it well. 

My prayer for years has been for God to give me His love – pure, selfless, unadulterated, genuine love. I don’t want just a surface love that can easily fade with time or situation; I want the love of God that is never ending and never failing. If ever there was a person that came close to exuding that kind of love, it was my grandmother. I hope I can fill those shoes. 

Agape is the highest and purest form of love. It’s the kind of love that God has for each of us, and the kind of love He commands us to have for others. 

Jesus was approached one time and asked, “How can I inherit eternal life?” Jesus, knowing this man to be an expert in religious law, responded, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?” The man answered, “You must love (agape) the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. And, love (agape) your neighbor as yourself.” To which Jesus said, “Yes! Now go do that and you will live.” But then the man sarcastically shot back, “And who is my neighbor?” Some of us have probably asked the same question, and it's quite possible that we had the same motive for asking the question. We love people – mom, dad, siblings, kids, close friends, etc. – but when it comes to the average fellow human, if we do it at all, we don’t do it very well. It’s counter-intuitive. Yet Jesus says that’s second only to loving Him. 

And this wasn’t just an abstract teaching of Jesus. It filtered its way down to His followers, and they began speaking the same thing. Paul said it. “The entire law [the entire Bible] is summed up in one single sentence, one commandment – love your neighbor as yourself.” So aside from us loving Him, everything else…every accomplishment, everything we enjoy, everything we invest ourselves in…it all falls further down the line. 

To make sure we don’t forget this, Jesus told a story. It’s possibly the most famous story in the Bible. I speak of the story of the Good Samaritan. It teaches us what it means to really love others. 

Beginning around Luke 10:25 Jesus says…

We've got three men: a priest, a Levite, and a Samaritan.  And there is another man going down the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. While traveling, this man gets mugged. The muggers take all of his clothes, money and belongings; they beat him; and they leave him for dead.  These three men walk by as witnesses to this crime scene and each of them have a different response. Jesus says these are the three possible responses you could have to your neighbor. These are the three possible ways that you WILL react to the people around you. (You can read the story to see their responses.)

Jesus ends his story with a question. “Which of them do you think was a true neighbor to the one who fell among thieves?” The man said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said, “Yes! Now you go and do the same.” I can hear about love; I can have an understanding of love; but if I do not love...I'm missing it. 

The Samaritan didn't ask for anything in return. He simply gave of himself. It wasn't convenient to stop to help. It wasn't comfortable to let the severely beaten, half-dead stranger ride on his transportation as he walked next to him. 

Agape isn't free; real love costs you something. And in some cases…it costs you everything.

Although the majority would have passed me by without a second thought, Jesus saw where I was, broken on the side of this road called life, and stretched His own bleeding hands to me. The only way for Him to BE agape was to BE in my stead. He gave me His life. Now it's my choice as to what I do with it. Do I share this agape with everyone I meet or do I dare keep it to myself?  To not share His love with the world is to render His death for them useless. Of what value is the atonement if it is never applied to the debt? I have come to the conclusion that I must tell the world of His agape, as if my own life depends upon it…because in all honesty, it does.  Jesus said unto them, “Go and do likewise.” Take the whole gospel to the whole world? It starts with love. Agape. 

“By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). 

by Sarah Jene Cartwright