“The one who is forgiven much, loves much.” – Jesus
Have you ever found yourself running low on love?
Especially if it’s for a certain person who tends to bother you?
Perhaps our lack of love is related to our unfamiliarity
with repentance?
In Luke 7:36-50, Jesus teaches a parable to illustrate
how our humility is related to our love. The story is told because a “sinful
woman” crashes the party where Jesus is dining in the home of Simon, the
Pharisee, and proceeds to weep. With her tears she washes the feet of Jesus,
and with her hair she dries them off. Next, she opens an expensive alabaster
jar of oil and anoints his feet with it. All the while, Simon and the other
Pharisees murmur in their hearts about how scandalous the whole thing appears.
That’s when Jesus tells the story of two men who owed a
debt to the same creditor. Both had their debts forgiven, but one of them owed
a lot of money and the other only a little.
“Which of these men loved the creditor most?” asked
Jesus.
Simon replied, “I suppose the one whom he forgave the
most.”
That’s when Jesus makes his point about love and how it
is tied to our acquaintance with our own sinfulness, saying that the one who is
forgiven much loves much, and the one who is forgiven a little, loves little.
Those of us who are more aware of our weakness, and our
sinfulness, tend to have a deeper well of love and compassion to draw from than
those who refuse to confess their sins and receive God’s mercy. Consequently,
whenever we find ourselves with very little love for another person it might be
because we have forgotten how much we have been forgiven – and still need to be
forgiven.
Hitler and I are both sinners. Without Christ, we would
both end up receiving the exact same sentence of death and eternal separation
from God. The playing field is level apart from the love of Jesus.
I share this insight with you because there is one
particular person whom I am finding it very hard to love. Over the weekend, as
our house church family gathered together and the Lord began to speak to us
through one another and His Word, I began to realize that the problem was not
the other person – it was me.
When it comes right down to it, my impatience and
intolerance of this person is directly related to my lack of love. More
specifically, my attitude about this person is tied to my blindness concerning
my own need for Jesus.
See, God loves this person dearly. In fact, God loves
this person exactly as much as He loves me. God sees me and this person the
same way – He loves us through and through. So, why can’t I love this person?
It’s because I have an unspoken perspective that thinks that this person and I
are different. But we’re not. This person is arrogant. I am also frequently
arrogant. This person is prideful. I am often prideful. This person is
self-absorbed. I’m very self-absorbed at times. This person is not a follower
of Jesus. I am a follower of Jesus. But we are both sinners.
As a follower of Jesus I am commanded to love everyone –
even my enemies – so that those who have not experienced God’s unmerited grace
and favor might get a taste of it by being in relationship with me.
Frankly, this is very, very hard for me to do. Whenever I
see this person I want to run the other way. But instead I need to lay down my
life, die to my flesh, and pray for the Holy Spirit to supernaturally fill me
with His love so that I might be empowered to love this person as God loves
him; to bless this person who annoys me; to serve this person who grinds my
gears; so that the life and love of Jesus might shine through this jar of
broken clay.
So, I confess to you all that I am a sinner, and that I am
failing in this area of my Christian walk. I ask for your prayers to live out
these things that I have learned. Because, in the words of Jesus: “Now that you
know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13:16-18)
-kg
2 comments:
Your sins have been forgiven, so do not fret over "sin". God knows our selfish nature, has forgiven us for all our selfish transgressions, and knows how great a challenge He gave us to "love one another". Loving others the way God loves them is our perpetual struggle for which we will never achieve perfection, even if through His eyes our faltering attempts are perfect (thanks Jesus).
oh yes you are so correct--I have the same kind of problem-I will pray for you and you pray for me--thanks
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