The world is so loud, deafening at times…but sometimes I can focus my attention and the roar lessens.
It’s like my ears are plugged up and all the world around me sounds muffled and dull.
I look around at what the world has to offer and it seems so dark and cutting. So piercing and vile. I look at this landscape and I breathe out relief from my chest that I have people in my life that I love and can trust. Family and friends that mean something to me and are important. They are sources of light and encouragement in a world that seems to be devoted to the complete opposite. They help me whenever I fail to be Christ-like and act less than my best.
I can’t help but think of Jesus’ words in the book of John chapter 15:
“There is no greater way to love than to give your life for your friends.”
--John 15:13 (VOICE)
How beautiful a thought, and what a foreshadowing statement of what Jesus was about to do Himself for His friends. With this declaration Jesus is revealing the depth of His own love for His disciples, as well as giving them (and us) a measurement of what their (our) love should be for each other. Life is the most valuable object we have, so laying it down for our friends is truly a revelation of our love for them.
And I would you know…lay down my life for my family and friends if I had too. Especially my wife, kids, and immediate family…there is no question there, I would. I take courage in having that knowledge and feel joy at loving like Christ.
But I’m troubled.
Not by the possibility of giving my life for those I care about most…but by the muffled, dull, world that surrounds me in this moment. I watch them so often and recoil into myself like I’m doing now. Yes, I take joy in loving like Christ and yes, I take courage in knowing that Jesus says that kind of love is unique and the greatest a man can offer. But as I look at the world outside of my family and friends, I realize that my love still does not measure up to Jesus…not even close.
You see, while Jesus loved His friends and was willing to die for them (like I would my own), He was also willing to die for His enemies. His bitter foes that rejected His claim at being the Son of God and persecuted Him for it. He was willing to die for those that HATED Him, cursed Him, mocked Him, and sought to kill Him. Jesus gave Himself over willingly to face the most painful, tortuous, humiliating, sorrowful, beating(s) and death any man has ever experienced. He took on all this agony, as well as all of our sin…not just for His friends…but for the world. A thoughtless, hating, unbelieving, selfish, world.
I definitely don’t love like that.
Maybe that’s why sometimes I’m willing to get down in the mud and sling it at others when I disagree with them or feel dislike or hate towards them. Because I’m not loving others the way Christ did and does. I have to be willing to admit that He’s called us to love and serve the world…not just those we’re comfortable with. I must confess…that’s really hard sometimes. I’m sure those reading these words can relate on some level.
I want to love like Jesus…but I have a lot of work to do.
How much work do you have to do?
