We are all looking for love.
Bear with me here……I’m going to back into this…….how to find love. Because there are lots of people out there struggling to find it. And it is hard to find……if you don’t know what it is.
There is a lot of pain going around. I look at the people around me and many of them are hurting. These are people whom I love. On a first glance, if you ask asked me what I want for them, I would say that I want their pain to go away. But, then I consider people who are in pain who seem to be doing well. These people carry their pain with grace, dignity, and, yes, with joy. Maybe pain relief is not what we all need. So……what is my wish for the people in my world who are hurting?
I want them to be happy.
And it occurred to me that this is the beating heart of a good working definition of love.
Love means that you want the other guy to be happy. Not only that……..you do something about it.
That could mean buying them an ice cream cone. Certainly, that is an expression of love. But, a much more powerful love is a love that looks down the road and works to maximize their happiness when you consider their entire life……..their eternity. After all, maybe the ice cream is bad for their diabetes.
So…..an even better definition of love is that you work for the long term happiness of the other guy.
Sounds pretty straightforward.
And then Christianity enters the mix…….and things get much harder.
Christianity teaches love. Anybody who sells you something that they call Christianity…….but that is not permeated by love……..is a liar…….or perhaps worse.
A Christian is required……required…….. to do two things:
Love God
Love everybody else
That’s it…..that’s all.
Christian love is not an abstract……warm, fuzzy, feeling kind of thing. It is active. It is concrete. Christian love has feet. It is……..it does. So what does this look like in practical terms.
There is no better example……there is no better teacher……than Jesus.
Jesus took off his God outfit and came to us to teach us how to love. For three years he explained the theory of love. And then he voluntarily submitted himself to a brutal death.
Why?
Because he wanted to make us happy…….in the long run……in an eternal time frame.
The crucifixion is the greatest practical act of love in human history. It is not some random event that happened to Jesus. He chose it. Consider that for a minute. The fact that Jesus voluntarily chose the cross changes everything.
We are told to take up our cross and follow this man…..Jesus. I have never been comfortable with this metaphor, because I never understood it…….until today.
Taking up our cross means doing the hard, practical work of loving the other guy…….of making him happy……in an eternal time frame.
So……if you want to spot love……look for the people doing the hard practical work of making others happy……in the long run.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends”.
Jesus in John 15:13, ESV
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
Jesus in John 15: 9-11
“The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
Jesus in Mark 12:29-31, ESV
“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
Jesus in Luke 9:23, ESV