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
by Sarah Jene Cartwright
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