How much do I really "love?" Fully, from the bottom of my heart? To the point of denying my self? Because love truly matters when it isn't convenient. When there is a cost to pay. That is when true love is tested.
And so I return to the cross. It seems that in most, if not all, profoundly human circumstances, I return here to the foot of the cross. I look up at the outstretched arms of Christ, and am reminded of what true love is:
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1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (New International Version)
4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8Love never fails.
Interpretation
13:4 The love of God, and of our neighbour for God's sake, is patient toward, all men. It, suffers all the weakness, ignorance, errors, and infirmities of the children of God; all the malice and wickedness of the children of the world: and all this, not only for a time, but to the end. And in every step toward overcoming evil with good, it is kind, soft, mild, benign. It inspires the sufferer at once with the most amiable sweetness, and the most fervent and tender affection. Love acteth not rashly - Does not hastily condemn any one; never passes a severe sentence on a slight or sudden view of things. Nor does it ever act or behave in a violent, headstrong, or precipitate manner. Is not puffed up - Yea, humbles the soul to the dust.***********
And so like my priest said this morning, we are called as disciples of Christ to imitate his love. And it is a crazy love, a love that bears absolutely no consideration for self but is wholly selfless. A love that "humbles the soul to the dust."
