“Our actions are dictated and directed by the true nature of our loves.”
Thoughts from daily Bible reading for today – March 31, 2022
For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. Matthew 16:25, ESV
If you are a parent, you can relate firsthand to the events of the past few days in my home. A few mornings ago, my wife and I were awakened in the middle of the night by a sick child who had come down with the flu. Their temperature was through the roof, severe body aches and pains, and a splitting headache. In short, the sickness had extended to every part of their body and threatened to overtake them.
As I assessed the severity of the situation, in all honesty, two competing values quickly rose to the surface in my heart and mind. On the one hand, I was worried for the wellbeing of my child and longed to see them made whole. Yet I also had very real feelings of self-preservation mixed in with my sympathy. “I don’t want to get what they have!” I said to myself. In the same breath I was both drawn to my child and tempted to keep my distance. Perhaps you can relate?
Whether it is a sick child in your home, relational conflict in your community, or war and violence at a global scale, the sickness of sin and death presents itself in countless ways. And every time that it does, we too are presented with a choice: will I risk my own well-being and enter into the chaos in order to be an agent of healing and peace? Or, does my love for self keep me concerned and near, but at a “safe” distance?
Our actions are dictated and directed by the true nature of our loves. Love of self keeps us withdrawn, calculating our steps and weighing the cost. By contrast, love for others moves us immediately toward them in their distress, seeking their good, no matter the cost.
Truth be told, the other night it wasn’t my child that woke me up, but the sound of my wife comforting and consoling my daughter.
Before I even knew what was going on, she had already entered into the suffering of our child, reassuring her that she was with her in her pain and would stay by her side the entire time. Simple though this act of service may have been, it was and is at the same time a beautiful icon of the very love of Christ. Seeing us suffering under the strain of sin, he came as a servant to us, binding our wounds and making us whole, so that we too may join him in the way of the cross, losing our lives in service to others for his name’s sake.
Prayer
Father, deepen my love for others that I may go to them in their time of need, forsaking my own love of self that I may be an agent of your healing and mercy, I pray through Christ my Lord. Amen.
Application
In what ways has excessive self-love held you back and kept you from giving yourself fully to those in need?
Related Reading
Matthew 10:39; John 12:20-28; Philippians 2:5-11
Worship Resource
Audrey Assad: Even Unto Death
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