Love is ...

"A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another" John 13:34

 

Jesus introduced a new commandment of sorts under the New Covenant. The commandment was 'love'. Living a life that is rich in giving love is awesome and a true liberation. It completely sets you free from the notion of self as your focus begins to turn towards others.

 

Love is a sacrifice and it comes at a price. Every single time that we love someone or show them love it costs us something. The cost could be time, skill, money, pride or something else. Whatever the sacrifice, it will never be greater than the sacrifice that Jesus made for every single one of us.

 

Forgiveness is an expression of love. It costs pride to forgive and for most people this is not easy to do. The flesh is essentially lazy and passive, it wants to reap benefits without putting any effort in. Loving throws a spanner in the works of passivity as love is effort.

 

Sadly there is a distinct lack of joy amongst most Christians. One of the reasons for this is that we have a tendency to become passive. We are looking for an effortless lifestyle. We want the rewards but we don't want to take part in the process needed to achieve them. It's a sign of modern day culture. We want things and we want them now, but we don't want to contribute anything towards the obtaining of them.

 

Love requires many things. It requires involvement, which requires commitment, which requires work, which requires effort! But we are passive and effort requires love and love requires effort!

 

Love heals

Love restores

Love is ...