I’ve stood before young couples with stars in their eyes and led them in their marriage vows. As they repeated “till death do us part” my mind would flash back to the all too many couples who had sat in my office claiming irreconcilable differences. Every married couple has times when they disagree on how to spend their money, sexual expectation, how to raise their children or deal with in-laws with their emotions becoming more intense. Fortunately, many are mature enough to get over the tiff and move on but unfortunately not all do. It’s not long before these individuals forget their vow of “till death do us part” and begin the slow dance toward divorce. The crazy part is they frequently go on to find another person to whom they think they can vow to love “till death do us part”. After all, surely this person will fulfill those expectations.
I wonder if God has those thoughts flash through His mind when a person commits to loving Him with all their heart. No, God is wise enough to know not even that soul can fulfill their own selfish expectations so the testing moments will inevitably come when He doesn’t meet their expectations. When that occurs, all too often the clouds of doubt appear and they begin to withdraw from Him which evolves into the classic spiritual stall. How can that be? Didn’t Paul write Love never fails (1 Corinthians 13:8a, NIV). What kind of love is it that never falls short or endures to the end?
The Pharisees believed they loved God. They had become scholars of His laws. They knew more about their Bible than at least 99% of Christians do today. Yet they totally missed many verses that revealed how Jesus was in fact the Son of God. Their pride in their misguided knowledge blinded them from seeing that their devotion to God only consisted of rigid rules and regulations. In essence they were giving a measured type of love to God—just enough to garner esteem from others but not so much as to recklessly seek His truth.
What then is this enduring love? Perhaps it could be said that love is not love unless it results in abandonment of self and complete devotion to God. Only twice in His earthly ministry did Jesus congratulate exceptional giving, an indicator of love. Once was when a widow gave her two mites (together worth ½ penny), and when Mary emptied her jar of expensive perfume over His feet.
Consider how Jesus strongly opposed his own disciples defending Mary’s offering of perfume that she poured over His feet. When the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? (Matthew 26:8, ESV). A waste? Never! This was a demonstration of holy love-abandonment! If Mary had calculated her offering to an exact dose, it would not have been love; ostentation perhaps, but short of genuine love. Consider why Jesus went out of His way to applaud a poor widow [who] put in [the treasury] two small copper coins (Luke 21:2, (ESV). He went on to explain why such a trifling gift was so admirable by saying they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in ALL she had to live on (Luke 21:4, ESV). Her love for God was expressed by total abandonment!
A measured, careful, calculated gift is not an action of love; it is a sense of duty. Your parents, spouse or children do not want to be loved out of duty and neither do you! If you and I are concerned with being politically correct in expressing our love to God we are only concerned about our reputation—not our love for God. Love … is not self-seeking (1 Corinthians 13:5, NIV).
Lord, I truly want to love You with reckless abandon. Please show me how completely worthy You are of my genuine abandoned love. Is that your desire too?