One of the things I think I took very seriously growing up was the word love.  Not really knowing for sure at times why I loved, or if I loved people really in my life.  So I would always ask myself do I really love this person?  Now as a Christian, it is vital to examine ourselves from time to time to ask that question in reference to God and others.  Because there are seasons I am not sure if I do or not…(2 Corinthians 13:5-7)

I think a solid way to determine whether you truly love as God loves, is whether you are willing to sacrifice to your own detriment, for the betterment of a person/situation?  Because by nature of sin, we look to preserve ourselves at all cost, which is why we blame others rather than take responsibility (Genesis 3:12,13).  Or we don’t give our “whole self” to a person we claim to love, we hold back for our fear of getting hurt…

The sad thing about that kind of “love” is that it will not involve true sacrifice.  It may involve hard work, but not to the point where it hurts, without you wanting to give up and go back to preserving yourself.  I believe this is where self-examination comes in.  That we be honest, that many relationships and things we do, we “preserve”, rather than really suffer for.  Because suffering hurts, and takes real faith that there will be a reward for it (Hebrews 6:10)!

One of the greatest adjectives to describe God’s love, is how the apostle Paul assures us of the depth and height of it (Ephesians 3:17-19).  Yet that “depth” was expressed in Christ painful death, the perfection of suffering without changing!

The effect of Christ suffering to His own hurt without changing, should have a dramatic effect on us believers too.  Because now we are made to live even to our own hurt, in order to prove our love to Christ (Philippians 1:29).  Of course we will waver and struggle, but if I’m content to preserve myself from God, “who is love”, how can I prove His love to others in my life?

In His Love, Ld