A Love that Gives

“You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” -Amy Carmichael

The giver of life gave a greater love. Greater then anything we can comprehend. The pure white of His righteousness meets the filthy blackness of our unrighteousness, because He desired us.

He loved us.

The desire of His lover heart was to wash away the filth, so that we can have the sweet unity of fellowship with Him. That love and desire for a lost people was so strong in the heart of God that He gave everything, out of love.

We are not desirable in our sin…Yet He thinks so.

So He gave.

Not out of duty or obligation, but out of the deepest wells of His heart. He gave up everything. His very life.

He came to romance the world! To romance me, with a burning passionate love.

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.” – S of S 8:6

This is the love that was so strong that it overcame death. How is that possible? Life was given so that we could have life.  Jesus was so jealous for the love of His people that He overcame the impossible; death. The jealously of God. Can we even comprehend it? He was jealous that sin had captivated us, that we thought we knew better. He was jealous that we couldn’t be with Him, because we had chosen sin. There was no way to escape sin that leads to death after that path was chosen. We are sinners and yet He desired us while we were yet sinners.

“For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.”  -Romans 5:7-8, 10

Would you die for a criminal even if you knew they would not appreciate that you did?

Would you die for them even if you had no assurance that they would except the love that you were giving to them?

When I think deeply about this, it truly overwhelms me. There was a point this past summer that I was talking to a man who had been in prison for 7 years and even a mental institution for awhile. As we talked and I mentioned Jesus a couple of times, he started to quote some scripture to me. I quickly became a little puzzled, because this man seemed to be living in a life of sin, and yet he knew scripture. When I asked him how he knew so much scripture, his response was what really awakened me. “While I was in prison I read the bible, you know? I had a lot of time on my hands, so I started reading.” It was right then, that I realized Jesus loved this man. That He was seeking this man! The Spirit of God had been reaching out to Him in a place of brokenness and He wasn’t done yet. After a long conversation, this man walked away reading the book of John, and I realized that this man did not come up to my business for no reason.

It broke me, because not only did this man teach me a little bit about the love of God for the world, but also for the love He has for me. Because I am a sinner. I am not any different from the man that has been in prison. Maybe you can’t see my sin as clearly as his, but before God’s holy standard, I am the same. But different. I have a hope that was an anchor for my soul, firm and secure(Hebrews 6:19). I was made pure. He sanctified me. This love of God, came down and washed it away, and saved me by His Sons life. There was nothing that I could do to bring me into right relationship with the Creator of the universe, because I was a sinner. All I could do was except that He had done it. My sins were no longer mine, He took them away. And this is my hope, that the blood of Jesus made a way for me, to be clean. All I have to do is believe His word, and praise His name for the work that He alone could do. But it doesn’t end with me, its something that reaches out to the whole world!

“But HE was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.” -Isaiah 53:5

“So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through His own blood.” -Hebrews 13:12

“But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);  because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. “- Romans 10:8-9

 

Our Response – to the deep, vast, unmeasured, love of Jesus:

“By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers… Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth…Anyone who does not love, does not know God, because God is love… In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” -1 John 3:16,18, 4:8, 10-11

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” -John 15:13

Out of a romance one has with a lover, there is action. They want to prove their love for each other; it is their delight. What does our love with Jesus produce? Is it this same giving love that He has given to us? Are we willing to give all for the unmeasured love that He has shown us?

But not as much willing… is it our chief desire?

The love that we are to show, that we are to live out, is not what someone deserves. But rather showing love when it is hardest, when they don’t deserve it. That was the love that was shown to you and me. Its not an easy love. But when you understand His nature, when you understand what He gave to you, there is no fear in love.

“GOD IS LOVE, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. “-1 John 4:16-21

“It is impossible to love deeply without sacrifice.” -Elisabeth Elliot

There is no fear in reaching out to the sick, lost, weary sinner. There is no fear to go to places you have never known; to move on without knowing; giving your all and not knowing the outcome. There is no fear in committing to the Father’s heart, in reaching out to the fatherless and the widow. Because there is no fear in love and God is love! We can step out in confidence and give this love. That is His nature. This is the love of God!

“So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will lift up my hands.” -Psalm 63:2-4