As
humans, whenever we think of the concept of love, it usually comes in the form
of the feeling. The one that gives you goosebumps and butterflies. Not the one
that’ll make you break you back for someone or even go as far as laying down
your life. But as Christians, we are also called to this type of love. We are
to exhibit not just the flowery version but the down in the pits version. As
the New Identity Magazine put it: “Sacrificial love in any relationship…. means
loving the other person with good intentions, good actions, and with no regards
to yourself”. However, “sacrificial love can be restricted or restrained by
what you are willing to sacrifice in that relationship”.
While
reading the devotional for the YouVersion word of the day (19th
Oct.), the verse John 3:16 jumped out to me like I was reading it for the first
time. And it began to make me think about this phrase, sacrificial love.
Imagine someone loving you so much that they gave their most precious gift, the
only one they had, for that matter just to save you. It’s mind-blowing! Even
the Apostle Paul in Rom. 5:6-8 (AMPC) called it an extraordinary thing and even
went as far as saying that if one did it for a noble, lovable and generous
benefactor (an almost perfect helper), it would make sense. But it wasn’t!
Instead, God did it for people that weren’t of any help to Him. Isn’t that
amazing?
A
reflection of this love God showed us was done by Abraham, when he went to
sacrifice his son Isaac in Gen. 22. After waiting for years for the child of
promise, God came to him and asked him to sacrifice his only son. When we grow
in our walk with Christ, there are certain things we will need to sacrifice; some
may be easy and some may be extremely difficult. In certain cases, because of
those we are called to witness to, we would need to sacrifice certain habits. A
ready example that comes to mind for me is alcohol. Why? Because it is a debate
I hear a lot. As children of God, we are called to live a life that is a worthy
example and that is no small responsibility. Remember at the start, I mentioned
that what you are willing to sacrifice can restrict or restrain your
sacrificial love. In the case of Apostle Paul, he went as far as saying: “Therefore,
if [my eating a certain] food causes my brother to stumble (sin), I will not
eat [such] meat ever again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble” 1Cor. 8:12-13 (AMP). This is just one example. It may be greater than meat, but the
point is, in order to live a life like Christ, we must be ready and willing to walk
in the way of love and be sacrificial in our relationships (Eph. 5:2). Keep in
mind that not everyone we do this for would be worthy of it, but that’s the
beauty. They are not meant to, if they were, there wouldn’t be anything
sacrificial about it. It’s easy to love a new born baby but difficult to love
someone that betrayed you. Nowhere was it recorded that Jesus hated Judas!
As we
go into the final week of October, I want you to ponder on this question: what
am I willing to lovingly sacrifice? There will be moments in our sacrificial
love journey when our strength will fail and we will be tempted to turnaround
and run away, imagine if Jesus had done that, instead of yielding (Luke 22:42).
The good news is God is more than able and willing to give you the strength (1 Chr. 16:11, Is. 41:10). In this new week, I charge you to love like Jesus
would. Stay blessed and remember, God loves you recklessly!
Song for the week: Reckless Love
Photo Cred: YouVersion
Hmmm..loving the other person with good intentions, good actions, and with no regards to yourself. The importance of us dying to self daily so we can be alive in Christ.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! Love others like Christ loves you
DeleteI love this phrase “sacrificial love can be restricted or restrained by what you are willing to sacrifice in that relationship”. Sacrificial love is Agape love, unconditional love. Donna Summer (hope you know who she is, a worldly singer who later became a Christian and released an Album Unconditional love), called it non-reacting, everlasting love. I think 1 Corinthians 13: 4 - 8a, summarizes it all.
ReplyDeleteIn my response to your post of 12th October Do it Afraid, I referenced Genesis 22 of Abraham in total obedience to God willing to go sacrifice his only son Isaac. Yes, sacrificial love gets you to that point in your walk with God, puts the passion in you to be ready to give all, in total surrender to the Unquestionable God. Meanwhile, we are enjoying the fruits of Abraham’s love for God till today, so the sacrificial love for God we express can transcends to generations after us. Unlike Adam and Eve that disobeyed and the result of their action is still affecting all till today. What a big contrast. It pays to embrace the God-kind of love.