Opening Prayer: Lord Jesus, help us to love like you love. Amen.
Scripture: Luke 7:11-17
Journal: If you could ask Jesus one question, what would it be? What does it mean to love like Jesus loves? How will you do that?
Reflection: A few days ago a friend asked me, “If you could ask Jesus one question, what would it be?” And as I thought about it, a question rose up from within me. In fact, it surprised me a bit. My only explanation is that it came from God; he knew the deepest question of my heart better than I did. How kind of him to show it to me.
“How can I love like you love?” was my
response. Like I said, I can take no
credit for it. It was just something that
arose from a deep and beautiful place in me.
And it was so right! In fact, the
older I get, the more it seems like the only question that really matters. And when it came out of my mouth, I could
feel a yes deep in my soul.
The problem is that it’s so far from my
daily reality. My failures to love seem
much more abundant that whatever small successes I might have. Even the idea of loving like Jesus loves seems
almost impossible to me apart from a work of Divine Grace. Yet, it is definitely one of the deepest
longings of my heart and soul. But how
in the world does that happen? How can I
possibly begin to love like Jesus loves?
I guess the answer is as simple as it is complex: I must let Jesus do
the loving in and through me.
Which brings me to my verses for the day—Luke
7:11-17. It is the story of a widow who
just lost her only son. Can you imagine
the pain? What a double dose of pain and
heartache and tragedy! First you lose
your husband, and then you lose your only child. Losing one of the two would have been bad
enough, but this just seems like piling on.
And here is the verse that stopped me in
my tracks: “When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her.” (Luke 7:13) Not
only had Jesus revealed to me the deepest question of my heart, but he was also
revealing to me how to go about the journey of loving like he loves.
You see, ninety-nine percent of the time
my initial thoughts are about myself, and how things affect me. Sadly, even when I run into the tragedy and despair
of others, my initial thoughts are usually something like, “What can I do? What do I need to say? What would be wise and helpful?” And when I do that, I fail to really see the
person in front of me at all, much less allow my heart to go out to them. Loving like Jesus loves, first of all,
involves a shift. A shift from me
worrying about what I am going to say or do, to really seeing them and letting
my heart go out to them. A simple shift,
but a profound one.
It’s like Jesus is saying to me: “Jim,
just allow me to love others through you, that’s how you love like me. Train your eyes to really see those around
you, and then, instead of worrying how to respond, just let your heart go out
to them. Make it about them, not about
you. If you can do those two things, you
will be well on your way in the journey of love.”
Pray
Closing Prayer: Jesus, help us to truly see people and help our hearts to go out to them. For then we will be on our way in the journey of love. Amen.
