Love is a Cross

Love.

We throw around the word a lot. For years I have told my family and other girls that I love them. Often, it’s not something we think about when we say. And this year, while being at college and seeking to pour out myself for the hurting and broken around me, I’ve said over and over that I love these precious people.

It’s quite easy to say. But it’s very different when this love is required to act and must be worked out in the practical everyday life.

You see, love looks like a cross in practical, everyday living.

Henry Scougal says, “Love is the most valuable thing we can bestow, and by giving it, we do in effect give all that we have…Perfect love is a kind of self-dereliction, a wandering out of ourselves; it is a kind of voluntary death, wherein the lover dies to himself and all his own interest, not thinking of them nor caring for them anymore, and minding nothing but how we may please and gratify the party whom he loves.”

So, I can say that I love the hurting, broken, and lost. But what about when this love requires that I give up my perfectly planned afternoon to help someone in need? What about when it requires getting less sleep because someone needed to talk or God asked me to spend more time in prayer for their souls? What happens when this love requires giving up “my” possessions, “my” money, “my” time, “my” plans, and “my” sleep?

This is when true love is proven. I don’t love people because I have compassion toward them or hurt when they’re hurting. I love them when I’m willing to lay down my own life, my own plans, and my own agenda in order to show case Jesus to them. The mentality He has been working in me is that I have no time of my own. So, when someone needs something, I’m available. When I have the opportunity to give of what I have been blessed with, I’m available. There is not an allowance in my mind for the “what about me…or how will I be taken care??” thoughts. I am absolutely convinced that if Jesus calls me to it, He will take care of my every need.

So, it’s not enough to just say I love people. In fact, that means very little until it is lived out in everyday life. However, it’s imperative to remember that this is utterly, completely, and wholly impossible. I have no love for others in and of myself. I must have His love. I must let Him give me His heart for those around me and rely wholly upon Jesus’ grace in order to serve those around me.

They will know us by our love.