Die for Love

"Christians who refuse

To look squarely into the suffering of Christ

Are not Christians at all.

They are a breed of pretenders,

Who would turn their backs on the cross,

And shame his death.

You cannot hold up the Cross,

Nor drink of the cup

Without embracing the death.

And you cannot understand love,

Unless you first die."

                                                          -The Dance of the Dead 1959

I caught this quote today as I was reading Ted DeKker's book When Heaven Weeps  and as I read the news of the destructive earthquake which ravaged Japan this morning.  The last line really got me.  You cannot understand love, unless you first die.  That's hard to wrap my mind around.  We have to die before we can fully understand love? 

Here's how I take it; we can't ever know what true love is if we don't except that it is only possible because of Jesus Christ's death.  and we can't experience it if we don't also die to ourselves for the love of others.  We can't experience love unless we raise other's above ourselves.  Our enemies, our loved ones, the ones across an ocean that we don't even know. 

Maybe we will love the people in Japan who just lost everything but their lives.  Maybe we will love the orphans.  Maybe the single mother, the single father.  Maybe we'll  love a fellow peer that sits next to us...someone we would never talk to in any context.  Maybe we'll love by giving away ourselves, our very life, our very breath, to others.  Maybe...

We'll love.

But will we today?  Or will we be the pretenders, who look at the cross and turn from it to look at our own image in a shiny mirror. 

Time In Between

I am continually humbled when I think about what Jesus Christ did for me on the cross. It is humbling to me that God would send His one and only son to die, to take the punishments for the sins that I have committed, and take God's wrath upon Himself so that I can be cleansed from my sins and inherit eternal life.  However, the other day I was thinking about life here on earth in comparison to life in heaven. I was brought to my knees (and still am) as I thought about all that Jesus gave up to come and live on earth as a man. He experienced all that we have experienced, plus some. The humbling thing is though that He didn't have to. Yet He chose to. He chose to obey His father, to live a life on earth as fully human fully God. 

I love how Francesca Battistelli describes things in her song "Time In Between".

You were there when your Father said

Let there be light

You obeyed when He whispered

Son, You have to leave tonight

To spend nine months in a mothers womb

Three days in a borrowed tomb

(Chorus One)

But it’s the time in between

That brings me to my knees

Knowing you came for me

And all that I can't be

I'm amazed, so amazed

And I thank You for the time in between

Don't take much for this crazy world

To rob me of my peace

And the enemy of my soul

Says You’re holding out on me

So I stand here lifting empty hands

For you to fill me up again

(Chorus Two)

But it’s the time in between

That I fall down to my knees

Waiting on what You'll bring

And the things that I can't see

I know my song’s incomplete

Still I'll sing in the time in between

So many ways

Your love has saved the day

And I'm grateful for them all

(Chorus 3)

But it’s the time in between

The middle of two thieves

That says everything

It’s the reason I believe

I'm amazed, so amazed

And I thank you for the time in between

Oh Lord, I thank you for the time in between

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykS2ZKSzXlk&feature=related

Soli Deo Gloria,

Shaidyn

Love

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines love this way:

¹love

a (1) : strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties <maternal love for a child>2: warm attachment, enthusiasm, or devotion <love of the sea> 3. a : the object of attachment, devotion, or admiration <baseball was his first love> b (1) : a beloved person : darling —often used as a term of endearment (2) British —used as an informal term of address 4 a : unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1) : the fatherly concern of God for humankind (2) : brotherly concern for others b : a person's adoration of God.

The Bible gives us a somewhat similar definition but also gives us a little more info on the verbiage aspect of the word.

1 John 3:16 (English Standard Version)

 ¹⁶By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.

1 John 4:10

¹⁰In 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.

1 Corinthians 13:4-8a

 ⁴Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. ⁸Love never ends.

We live in an age that has completely warped the meaning of love; we "love" pizza, "love" our pets, "love" ourselves, "love" money, "love" that cute hairstyle or that comfy pair of sweats.  That's not what love is, or ever was.  Wouldn't it be disappointing if that WAS all that love was?  That tiny pleasure from taking a bite out of pizza or the wonderful feeling of lounging in those comfy sweats?  What if love was only a description for how we feel about the things we like and nothing more?

It's not.  Praise God, it's not. 

Given the verses above, we have a clearer definition of love, the way that God designed it to be. So there are no misconceptions, we believe the Bible's definition is the only definition.