The best Halloween costumes are those costumes that look effortless to make, no one has to ask who you are and everyone chuckles when they see it. Every year I am amazed on what people can come up with. This year is no surprise! Slap on a pair of gray sweatpants and sweatshirt, snatch fifty gray paint samples from your local Home Depot or Lowe store and pin them all over your body and you have the best seller book costume 50 Shades of Grey. I have to admit when I saw this that I did chuckle. However, I am NOT recommending the book, nor have I read it, nor do I have any plans to read it. But, the costume was funny and creative! Despite practically knowing nothing about this book, I was able to recognize the costume immediately. What if love toward others worked this way? No one has to say anything but when they see it, they recognize it immediately. John writes in 1 John 3:18 “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” How clearly do your actions say that you love others? I’ve recently realized that if your love action needs an explanation, it probably wasn’t done in love. I want to love others like Jesus but it is hard. I let my judgmental, biased attitude interfere with the work of the Spirit and in the end what comes out was a nice favor but not true love.
One of the poorest ways we express love to others is by seeking something in return. Love is not expressed in the concept “you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours” mindset. The irony is that we tell ourselves that we are seeking nothing in return, but secretly…. a little thank you or recognition would be nice…. a little favor down the road would be nice…. a little blessing from above would be nice. To serve others with the thought of TRULY receiving nothing in return is hard. I do not want my love action to be interpreted as a favor but as genuine love. I want nothing in return but want to sacrifice as much as I can.
I recently cleaned out my closet and bagged up some clothes to donate. Drove down to the donation center, dropped my big bag of outdated clothes and thought I am supposed to feel good about myself. I just did a wonderful thing. WRONG! What did I sacrifice? 30 minutes of my time to bag some clothes and drive down the street. If anything, the donation center did ME favor. Now please understand, I am not saying that donating clothes or things you no longer use is a bad thing. (I love hand me downs!) We need to continue to do these things because some people need these items and it does show that you are being thoughtful. However, this is not an expression of true love but again a nice deed. “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” John 15:13. Ultimately, I ask myself, what did I sacrifice? Jesus sacrificed is life to show love. How can a bag of outdated clothes compare? I remind myself again “I want nothing in return but want to sacrifice as much as I can. “ If we could show love in this capacity, 50 Shades of love would be a best seller!
Extremely insightful, as usual. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading!
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