A popular worship song still often sung today has the chorus: ‘They’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love, yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.’ What a beautiful picture that paints, and how special life would be were it true. But sadly most of the time it’s not. Although we warm to everything Jesus said about loving others – even our enemies – and although we want to love more than anything, the simple fact is we are not very good at it. To be honest, there are some people we find it hard even to like, let alone love. Even the love we have for ourselves and those closest to us is flawed. Yet, just occasionally, we can rise to unexpected heights of devotion – a level of selflessness that affords us a glimpse of how much God loves us. And, as this session, taken from my early book, Are You Listening?, reminds us. it is when we truly open our hearts to that astonishing love which sacrificed everything that love can fully flow through our lives and out to those around us.
Lord, I saw a photograph today
Read
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater
love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:12-13
Reflect and pray
Lord, I saw a photograph today,
a picture of a mother
desperately shielding her baby
from a hail of bullets,
sacrificing herself to protect her little one.
And there I saw love,
total love –
not the pale imitation we pass off in its place,
but the real thing,
concerned only to give,
pouring itself out, oblivious to the cost.
I admired that, Lord,
and I longed to share it.
No, not the pain and sacrifice, not that,
but the ability to love
with even a fraction of that selfless devotion –
for I know deep down that I don’t.
I speak of love often enough –
sign off with it in a letter,
send it casually over the phone –
but it’s just a word,
well-intentioned but hollow.
And even with those dearest to me,
my friends and family,
though I care deeply about them –
more than they will ever know –
my love is still imperfect,
as much about me as them –
my happiness,
my desires,
my wishes,
my well-being.
I’m not good at loving, Lord,
and that troubles me,
for it strikes at the very heart of my faith.
Love your enemy, love your neighbour,
love one another –
isn’t that what you tell us to do?
And it all sounds wonderful,
a recipe for heaven.
But it’s one thing to bandy
such fine words as theory –
I do it all the time –
it’s another to mean them,
let alone to make them real.
My child,
it’s quite true what you say –
love is difficult,
more costly and demanding
than most people ever imagine;
and it’s true also that your love
is less than it ought to be,
as much about yourself as others.
But that’s not so terrible,
for I tell you this:
unless you learn to love yourself
you will never love anyone else.
Besides, there is more to you
than you give credit for.
That picture you speak of,
the mother shielding her child –
you’re not so different, despite what you think.
You too could rise to that
same devotion and commitment,
that same willingness to sacrifice all.
It would take a lot, I grant you,
and I hope you’ll never be put to the test,
but there are those you care about enough
to die for them if necessary.
Believe me, I know,
for I care that much about you, about everyone,
only it cost me more still –
the cruellest of agonies,
the most unimaginable pain.
I came to this world in Jesus,
sharing your human suffering,
bearing your grief and sorrow,
and out of love I watched him give everything,
nailed to the cross so that you might live.
It was dreadful,
harder than you will ever know
not to step in and call a halt –
my child far too precious to die like that.
But I held back, honouring his wishes,
as he laid down his life for all.
So, yes, loving is difficult – I understand that –
but it’s not impossible, not now anyway,
for it’s been given freely,
in the blood of my Son shed for you –
and when love like that flows through your veins
it must surely soon beat in your heart.