If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn't love others, I would have gained nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3 NLT) True Love Comes From God.
How can anyone sacrifice their own life for others and yet have no love? Our altruism could very easily be born out of the deceptive motive of the lust for hero worship. There is also the martyr's syndrome, someone pretending to suffer for others only to get attention or pity for the absorption of their own pain. Sometimes it's harder for us to live for God than it is to give ourselves in sacrifice, dying for Him. Therefore, our suffering cannot be a coping mechanism for escapism, cowardliness, or deliverance from guilt as these mechanisms could readily become a real danger in our spiritual quest for genuine expressions of the love of God. Our motives and incentives are just as important as our ethical values, character, and behavior. Even in suffering, the cause promoted, the image represented, and the vision endorsed must always be in alignment with God's divine nature. Although, Jesus' calling was to serve others and give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), the way he did it was just as important as what he did. Christ could not make a spectacle out his own vocation, throwing Himself down from the pinnacle of the temple (Matthew 4:5-6), neither could He allow others to cast Him down by force just because he loved them ( Luke 4:28). These were all counterfeits and false imitations of His real and ultimate call of dying on the cross for humanity in the perfect revelation of the love of God. It could not be done by external force neither by an internal Messianic complex but only out of obedience to His God given vocation. Only as an extension of the overflow of God's love in His heart can he truly say, "No one takes my life, I lay it down voluntarily of my own accord," (John 10:18).
If love, even in an ultimate sacrifice, is so tricky, how can we then learn to love like Jesus loved (John 13:34)? The answer is that we must learn to live like Jesus lived. Two specific ways come to mind:
1. Jesus lived the cross-shaped life of discipleship. Obedience is better than sacrifice but that does not mean that obeying is not sacrificial. Self-denial and total surrender to the leading of God's Spirit is the best expression of a true loving sacrifice. Our modern versions of the gospel constantly seek to advanced the promotion of our own agendas, looking for the exaltation of our best interest and pursuing the massaging of the flesh instead of the crucifixion of it. When we yield in consecration to our discipleship, God will give us His divine nature, showing us how to truly love not in our own strength but according to His divine power.
2. Jesus lived the lifestyle of intercessory prayer. The best gift I can offer the people I love is to pray for them. Because God can love them in ways that my limited mind does not understand. When I lay down thru intercession my own carnality, selfishness and personal ambition, I not only released the will of God for those I pray for but I also ascertain the heart of God for them, loving them with God's perfect love. Prayer is not just the vehicle to change things; it is also the primary tool God uses to transform us to learn to love others the same way He loves us.
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