Love as Christ Loved

Published on December 3, 2003 By jiffo22 In Philosophy

What does it mean to love? What is love anyway? Is it just that warm fuzzy feeling you get? Or is there something more? I have known that there are two kinds of love, unconditional and conditional. But what does that mean?

We as people have a dilemma, we are depraved, we are incapable of loving unconditionally. Meaning that it is absolutely impossible to love anyone with no strings attached, without getting something out it for ourselves. Unconditional love is simply selfless love, no matter what the cost, no matter what the circumstance unconditional love is still love. Yet, conditional love, is simply self love. What's in it for me? I don't feel like loving them today? She hurt me, so I don't love her anymore. This love is everything but unconditional. We as people live according to conditions, it is in our nature.

But the cool thing is that through God we can obtain unconditional love and we can love unconditionally. Christ died, not for himself, but for us. What did Christ receive from his death? He received nothing for himself. He died so that we can live, he died so that we can love. It is Christ who enabled us the ability to love with unconditional love. But do we, do we love.

This past week I have seen people love, but I have seen the results of people's conditional love as well. Thursday was Thanksgiving. A time to gather with family and friends, a time to eat, a time watch football, a time to be thankful for what WE got. How many of us ran out of food? How many of us were out shivering in the cold? How many of us were really thankful?

Thursday, I had the opportunity to serve dinner downtown at the Portland Rescue Mission. There were over 20 volunteers. There were well over 300 men and women who were without food, without shelter, without love. But as we served them, as they saw us on Thanksgiving day providing them with an abundance of food of which they probably only get one or two times a year they were THANKFUL. It doesn't matter why those people were there, it doesn't matter why they can't seem to do better, they were THANKFUL. They need unconditional love. They need Christ. I stood there serving and watching the men and women laughing and talking amongst themselves, I began to realize how much I take for granted. I often fret about what I don't have, and hardly take the time to be thankful for what I do have. It was a humbling experience, it was reality check. Those precious people need love, need food, need Christ as much as I do. As much as we ALL do.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matt. 25: 34-40

Comments

revjack

on Dec 03, 2003

May God bless you! I serve in one of the most affluent areas in the country and struggle to help my students realize their neediness. Far too few people truly see the world and those in it with the eyes and heart of Christ. God used your words to again challenege me. May He use them to touch the hearts and souls of others as well.

JeremyG

on Dec 03, 2003

It kind of gives me a chuckle whenever I see a christian group do something like close down a porn shop or yelling at people at abortion clinics or whatever.

It's in sharp contrast to the way Jesus would have acted.

jiffo22

on Dec 04, 2003

Thank you, May the Lord continue to draw you closer to Him, and may he continue to use you to bring your students to an understanding of their own need for the Gospel. We often think that the Gospel is for the 'lost', but it is for us just as well. Christ died for all, so that all could live. To live according to the Gospel, means living a life reflecting Christ. Christ had a burden for the hurt, and lost, and so should we. I charge you in your endeavor. God Bless you!

GemCityJoe

on Dec 22, 2003

Yeah JeremyG, Like you really know the mind of Jesus, aren't you an atheist? GCJ

oleteach

on May 29, 2004

Your article here has a great message, one that many people will just pass by. Our pastor speaks every Sunday on some facet of God's unconditional love. If you claim to be a follower of Christ, we need to find out just what kind of Person He was and is for us. To do that we need to study the Scriptures prayerfully. We need to put on the mind of Christ so that He can transform us so we can transform the world around us into a loving place where all are conscious of where we are heading...toward Jesus.

I am late in coming to some of these blog. Thanksgiving has long since past but there will always be one next year, if the terrorist don't prevent it.

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