Monday, 21 June 2010 11:33 | and posted in Sex & Relationships
One of the most exciting things about being a Christian is love. We have access to a God who loves us deeply and unconditionally. God is love. And his love is absolutely crazy – it’s what led Jesus, the Son of God, to lay down his life and die for people who rejected him, hated him and put him on the cross. We are called to this same radical love – not to love only ‘nice’ people who are nice back to us – but to keep loving even when we are rejected – or when it requires sacrifice.
God’s people are commanded ‘to love your neighbour as yourself’. ‘Your neighbour’ basically refers to the people who come across your path. What does it mean to love someone as yourself? Well, when you are hungry, you make sure that you go and get something to eat. When you’re cold, you put a jumper on. When you feel bad, you try and do something that will make you happy. This concern that we show for ourselves is the same concern we should extend to others.
Instead of focusing on yourself, take a look around. Is there somebody lonely, or who’s being picked on? Is there someone struggling with their schoolwork? Is there someone who looks sad? If you were lonely, struggling or sad, you would want to do everything in your power to change your own circumstances. So do that for someone else! Ensure that the lonely person has a friendly face to talk to (that’s you). Say to the person who looks sad, “I know you’re not happy. Now tell me what’s wrong!” Insist on helping the other person with their schoolwork. Put yourself in their shoes and ask, ‘If I was them, what would I need or want?’
Heidi Baker, who works with street kids in Mozambique, has a great phrase. She says, “What does love look like?” Love looks like different things to different people. To a hungry person, love looks like a sandwich. To a lonely person, love looks like a phone call or an invite to the cinema. To a person with problems, love looks a friend who wants to talk things over. Ask yourself “What does love look like?” whenever you come across somebody you want to love.
If you start loving like this, pretty soon you will find yourself out of your depth. You’ll come up against your own limitations: for example, your lack of loving feelings, your selfishness, your inability to think of the right thing to say, your own sense of awkwardness – or a million other things. That’s OK. This kind of love is not something you’re meant to do on your own. It’s the Holy Spirit living in you who makes it possible.
1 John 3:16 says, “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.” It’s Jesus’ love for us and what he did for us on the cross that enables us to love others in this supernatural way. We receive his love and we give it out.
If you aren’t certain about God’s love for you, if you feel full of anger and sadness and loneliness, it’s important for you to start reading verses in the Bible about God’s love. Read them over and over and talk to God about what you think. Tell him you want to know his love, you want to be different and you want to love others. It will be the beginning of more and more love coming into your life – for you and for others.
Loving may be hard sometimes – but it’s exhilarating too. It’s what living life to the full is all about.