When talking about love, people usually quote Paul’s dissertation in first Corinthians. But I don’t think anyone really knows what love means anymore. Sure they have verses memorized, sure they can reel off to you what Paul says or what Jesus does, sure they can tell you ‘true love is *sacrificial* love’… but who really understands to the point where they practice love?
If you break it down, all marital problems in any Christian marriage are essentially selfishness. The root of all sibling strife is selfishness. The root of distorted and messed up parent-child relationships is selfishness. Pretty much all inter-personal relationship problems at their core stem from a lack of love for God, and love for others. In our culture, we are obsessed with ‘equality’ and ‘justice’ and ‘rights’. It really makes me sick at times how indnividualistic even the conservative Christian culture has become.
Love is a concern with others over oneself. It is me not caring about my rights, it is me not caring about my comfort, it is me not caring about if I get what is ‘fair’ or ‘just’ so-called. This is the very root of love, if you break it down to it’s core. That’s why Jesus did what he did. Because he loved us. Why I shall never know, but it makes him all the greater. He despised himself, he set aside himself, he only cared about the will of his heavenly Father. So are we to act.
I challenge you to give up your ‘rights’ so-called. You deserve only hell. God, by his unfathomable mercy has called us his sons, and has heaped grace upon grace, gift upon gift, . Shall we accept the good and not the bad from God? Shall we accept the blessings and not the hardships? If we deserve hell but have been granted the rule of the world to come, shall we not accept trials in this short life? Shall we not bless God and ask him to put us through trials so that we might become as purified gold? Is it not a good thing to pray for rain? Painful but cleansing and purifying? It seems to me we should want to present ourselves in the best possible shape to God, that we should keep the temple of our mind and body holy and undefiled, purified by many trials and tribulations.
And you don’t have to give up your rights on a major level. I think we tend to ignore the small things. But if you are faithful in little, then perhaps God will entrust you with the bigger things. Sacrificing your place in line, letting your siblings have your share of the food, taking responsibility for little things that aren’t your fault around the house. It’s the little things that God notices, and I am always surprised at how often people notice the little things as well.
So we have now established the basic principle of love: it is the relinquishing of rights, the giving up of personal comfort and happiness for the comfort and happiness of others, an attitude of unconcern with oneself and with concern for others. (Next post perhaps I’ll try and lightly tap Paul’s ode to love in Corinthians and perhaps break it down to more practical everyday pictures).