Month: February 2019

Back in high school, I waitressed at a couple family owned restaurants.  These were small scale places with a regular clientele. I took orders and delivered food and bussed tables and at the end of my shift, I sat down to eat a meal of my own.  Usually someone had left a newspaper during the course of the day, and I enjoyed mindlessly perusing the comics. There was an old, one frame comic called “Love is” with a cute drawing and a sometimes poignant statement about the character of love.  I always saved that one for last – something to savor as I cleaned up and headed home.

This week is Valentine’s Day.  If love were nothing more than red and pink cards, stuffed animals, and foil covered boxes of candy, it would be so easy to get, so easy to give.  It would cost you practically nothing. Sweet thoughts and flattering words, romantic gestures and extravagant gifts are all wonderful, and have a place, but they’re counterfeit substitutes for true love.

Love is patient and kind.  Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude.  Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged.  It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

Somehow I don’t think this is what they’re selling at the store.

Everything Paul says love is are things we need in the face of weaknesses, shortcomings, and failures.  Maybe that’s why the King James’ Version translates the word love as charity.  Love is a gift to a person who is desperately needy, hopelessly undeserving, who lacks good and pleasant qualities.  Love responds to shortcomings. Love meets weakness.

Actually, if love’s very first quality is patience, that’s a pretty good sign that things aren’t always going to be rosy.  Love is long suffering. It puts up with much. It forbears – it carries the beloved forward past the point of conflict. It takes the long view.

Love is unexpected, unearned, undeserved.

Love is willing to play second fiddle.  It’s willing to be inconvenienced. And love is willing to yield.  Love says, I will go out of my way for you. I will give up having things my way for you.

There is no lack in love.

Love keeps no records.  There’s no scorecard or balance sheet, no points awarded or taken away.  Because love is a gift. It cannot be bought or earned. It cannot be stolen or forced.

Love is brave.  It holds on and keeps going.  It says no to fear and yes to courage, to possibility, to hope.  It’s fierce in its defense and passionate in its commitment to the beloved’s best interests and well-being.

Love by its very nature is impractical.  It’s extravagant. It’s improbable and absurd.  And it is so incredibly powerful. We will do just about anything to get it, or something like it.  What a difference it would make if we knew with certainty, no room for doubt or second-guessing, that we are fully and completely and irrevocably loved.  It’s a love that will not fade or mellow with age. It’s a love that comes through every time.

Maybe others haven’t loved you as they ought.  There are holes in your heart that feel like bottomless chasms and the brokenness seems beyond repair.  Maybe you have feasted on counterfeit loves and wonder if you’re too damaged for true love. God is never the one who says you are not loved, that you are unlovable, or that there’s no hope. No, His constant message is you are loved.  You are loved. You are loved. This is no saccharine candy store valentine. This is love that is stronger than death. This is love that reaches into the depths of hell and tenderly carries you to a wedding in paradise.

God loves you in a way that says I cannot, I will not, I do not want to let you go.

Jesus passed through Jericho on His final trip to Jerusalem. There was a blind man on the side of the road who heard that Jesus was coming and started making a whole lot of noise.  Others in the crowd told him to pipe down, but the man only shouted louder.

What’s kind of interesting is that James and John, two of Jesus’ closest friends, had just asked Him for a favor. They pulled Him aside and asked Him to give them seats of honor beside Him in His Kingdom (Mark 10:37).

Jesus didn’t rebuke James and John, but He used it as an opportunity to teach them more about how things work in His Kingdom. “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be the slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44).

It’s right on the heels of this that Jesus arrived in Jericho and encountered the blind man in the road yelling, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” (Mark 10:47)

The man wanted mercy. Not position or power or wealth, but mercy.

Our purposes are much smaller than the purposes of God. This trips us up every time. We want our path to be smooth – He wants our hearts to be smooth. We’re concerned with the here and now – He’s focused on what will last forever. Until His purposes become ours, we will often find ourselves attempting to wrestle God into submission.  It didn’t work for Jacob and it won’t work for us.

Jesus stopped in the road called the man closer. He responded to his cries for mercy. He asked, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51)

What do you want Jesus to do for you? What difference would His presence make in your life?  There’s nothing wrong with telling Him.  Do you want your heart to be changed? Your mind to be changed? Do you want to be moved from your preconceptions, from your comfort zone, from your self-righteousness? These are the things He will definitely do.

When the blind man called Jesus the Son of David, he wasn’t just being polite. He was acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah, the righteous King who would save His people (Jeremiah 23:5-6). He was betting all his chips on it being true and that confidence is what changed his life.

God isn’t interested in making an improved version of you. He wants to make a new you. He wants to restore you to the intrinsic worth He gave you when He created you. Back to the glorious promise of the Garden at the beginning. Soul restoration is the primary work of the Holy Spirit and it’s made possible because in His mercy, God responds to our cries for help.