LOVE TILL IT HURTS!

LOVE TILL IT HURTS!

John 13:1

1 Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.

           Love is a strange thing. Sometimes the harder we run after it the faster it runs away. At other times it chases us down and overwhelms us against our fiercest resistance. Love is like that.

           I’ve led the same church family for nearly 21 years now and sometimes I marvel at how much I love them. I love them “because” and sometimes I love them “in spite of” but I can’t do other than love them. It is no longer something I have to try to do. It is involuntary.

           Jesus loved “because” as well. It was His mission. I am sure He also loved “in spite of.” Peter certainly understood when Jesus quizzed him in John  21:15  “Lovest thou me more than these?” This conversation must have been painful for both Peter and Jesus!

           This same kind of love is what Jesus intends for His flock. We are to love each other “with a pure heart fervently.” (1 Peter 1:22) Manufactured love is cheap and artificial but pure and fervently love sometimes hurts.

Dear Lord, thank you for the love that bubbles up unexpectedly in my heart because it is generated by your Holy Spirit. AMEN