Since the love of Christ in us is the goal of our salvation (1 Timothy 1:5; Ephesians 3:14-19; John 13:34, 35, etc.), it behooves every believer to meditate deeply on this subject.
I’ve written in the past about the three meanings of the term “the love of Christ.” First, it can refer to the deep and profound love that Christ has for us (the subjective sense, where Christ is the one who loves us).
Second, it can refer to our love for Christ (the objective sense, where Christ is the object of our love).
And third, it can refer to the act of loving like Christ (the nominative sense, where the love of Christ is something that we practice). For example, when Jesus commands us to love each other as he has loved us, he is referring to this sense of the term.
In my ministry, I’ve focused on this third meaning of the love of Christ and, specifically, how it applies to meeting the needs of those with long term needs in our churches and communities.
In this post, I want to make a broader observation about the practice of the love of Christ and that is that it always, always involves sacrifice – sometimes great sacrifice.
The sacrifices we make for our spouse and children are obvious examples. No one said marriage and raising children would be easy. They are not. And yet the blessings that come from those sacrifices are, usually, far greater.
But, working outward from our immediate family, the sacrifices we might make for our extended family members are a little more tenuous. The blessings that come from serving an elderly parent might seem a little less obvious. This sacrifice/reward imbalance can grow even greater for those we serve who are in need and are outside our church.
There is an even more extreme example of a sacrifice of love that seldom receives any reward at all, at least in this life. That is the sacrifice of speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). I have found this kind of love throughout the course of my life to be very costly.
This kind of love was certainly costly for Jesus in his earthly ministry. He often deeply offended people by the things he said: the people in his hometown, the Jews, the Pharisees, even his own disciples (Matthew 19:9-10; John 12: John 6:53-66). Speaking the truth in love eventually got him crucified (Luke 22:71).
So here is my commitment to you: like Jesus Christ, no matter what it costs me, I will always love you by telling you the truth, and I will always do it in love, even when you don’t want to hear it and even when it offends you.
This post first appeared in newcommandment.org.
Since 2003 New Commandment Men’s Ministries has helped hundreds of churches throughout North American and around the world recruit teams of men who permanently adopt their widowed and single parents in their congregations for the purpose of donating two hours of service to them one Saturday morning each month. We accomplish this with a free training site called New Commandment Men’s Ministry
Learn how to mobilize your men’s ministry to meet every pressing need in your church here.
_______________________________________________________________
Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
_______________________________________________________________
