Compel

“Love on another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12). 

Christ Healing the Sick in the Temple (Benjamin West)

I live a pretty easy life.

Not many things cause me to become worried or stressed.  I have enough money to feed my family.  We have a safe place to live.  We have family and friends around us.

Our life is not perfect, but it is certainly a very easy life compared with the lives of others.

Because my life is easy there are very few places in it where I need to exert myself.  Mostly things come easily to me.  This means that mostly I am able to get away with a minimal effort on things.

I have been thinking about this today.

You see, when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, it not only stays inside its cocoon for a period of time, but it also needs to fight its way out of the cocoon afterwards.  If someone were to help the butterfly, they would stop the creature from pushing through the opening in the cocoon and the result would be that the butterfly would not survive because it would have a very engorged body and tony wings and would never be able to fly.

And I have been reflecting on this as I have been thinking about what Christ asks of us…  You see, Christ asks us to “Love on another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12).  This is a big request.  And certainly not an easy one…

God is asking us to have a DIVINE love for each other.  This is a big thing.  How does Christ love me?  He loves me to the point of death.  He loves me to the point of total repeated forgiveness and mercy.  He loves me knowing all my faults and all my sin – even to the end.

When Christ washed the feet of the Apostles on the last night, He washed the feet of Judas also.  When He ate from the dish with all the apostles on that last night, He ate from the same dish as Judas.  He smiled at Judas and loved him.  And He did all these things knowing…  “The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” (Matthew 26:24).

THAT is the way that God loves me.  THAT is the way that I am to love others.  I am compelled by that love.  It is unfathomable to me.  And I have been thinking about that today.  For it seems to me that everything that I have ever done has been flavoured by the terrible misunderstanding of those words…  “Love on another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12). 

For that is a big love.  It is such a bog love that I cannot even begin to understand it.

And I have been thinking about that love today – for I should be COMPELLED to love in that way – if only God would compel me.  If only He would…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.