Let me begin by wishing all of those with their "heart in a headlock", a happy (and very late) single aware-...oh, sorry Valentine's Day. I haven't been very on the ball with these blogs, but I promised...
For those of you still searching for the perfect prom date, no worries. I hope you had a wonderful day of sitting on your couch eating ice cream. (I recommend Cold Stone Creamery's quart ice cream. It has self-pity written all over it.)
Today, reflection.
It's amazing how many people spend today going out of their way for the people they love. Yes, I think it's great to show affection. Tis a wonderful thing to do.
But is it worth it?
First of all, personally, I'm not going to make my boyfriends suffer with those kinds of expectations. Your hand that's all I'm asking for. Your hand and your heart. I don't need a heart-shaped box or something chocolate to tell me your affections. I just need the words and actions that suggest it to me.
Secondly, is there any reason we shouldn't be treating people with this kind of affection every day? And if not just the people we love but all people. I mean, no, I'm no saint. There are people that I've been unkind to. I have said that I hated people. I'm not proud of it.
So this is as much reflections on myself as it is to the readers.
We shouldn't succumb to Hallmark's holiday and just love people on a day set aside for it. Yeah, it's okay if you want to do something special just because it's Valentines Day or whatever, but just make sure you're smiling a little more every other day. Love is universal. Love is forever. Love is Christ. And love is every day everywhere.
Then again, what is love? Most people think of love and they get this romantic picture in their heads. There's the guy, a dozen roses, chocolates...and (if you're looking from the guy's point of view) the hot girl with skimpy clothes. Love is something given to one special person (or several special persons who don't know about one another) and is a romantic feeling. Well, maybe for individual relationships there is a tad more intimacy, but love is not just a romantic thing.
Well, let's start in John, chapter 13. It's the time of the passover and Jesus is dining with his disciples. (CSB Version)
"(1) Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end....(3) Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into His hands, that He had come from God, and that He was going back to God. (4) So He got up from supper, laid aside His robe, took a towel, and tied it around Himself. (5) Next, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples' feet and to dry them with the towel tied around Him."
Remember, at this time, you either wore sandals or no shoes at all, so your feet were pretty nasty. The job of washing feet for a dinner, because when you ate, you reclined, was left to the lowest of all slaves in the household.
Jesus, the savior of the world, and the one who everyone thought was going to come in as a great and mighty king, took a towel and some water, and washed his disciples' putrid feet. Just think about that.
Now, typical Peter, says to Jesus:
"(6) He came to Simon Peter, who asked Him, 'Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
Peter, as thick as he had been, was aware of just how Holy Jesus is.
"(7)Jesus answered him, 'What I'm doing you don't understand now, but afterwards you will know.'
'You will never wash my feet--ever!' Peter said.
Jesus replied, 'If I don't wash you, you have no part with me.'"
Peter didn't realize how low Jesus would go for him. He didn't realize that in a matter of days, Jesus would carry a cross, beaten and broken, to Calvary and would die one of the most horrific deaths for Peter.
That is love. That is what love means. Love is not chocolates and talking for hours on the phone and it's not sex. It's not sexual at all. It is giving yourself to another and putting yourself third in life.
(John 13: 12-15;34-35)
Jesus said,
"'(12)...Do you know what I have done for you? (13) You call Me Teacher and Lord. This is well said, for I am. (14) So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. (15) For I have given you an example that you also should do just as I have done for you.'
....
(34)'I give you a new commandment: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another. (35)By this all people will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.'"
Love isn't just for one person and it isn't a sexual thing. Love is letting go of selfishness and becoming humble. Humility, self-sacrifice, and "washing feet". We, as Christians, are commanded to love all people with the self-sacrifice of Christ. Regrettably, I can not admit to portraying that amount of love very often. But, I am trying to find love for total strangers and those who aren't so strange through strengthening my relationship with Christ. His example should lead our lives, not sexual desires or little chocolate hearts.
Just keep that in mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment