Determine to Love
the Lord Jesus Christ. Hear these words again, “since God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” What does this cross-shaped love look like in the hallways, subways, boardrooms, living rooms, and sidewalks of everyday life? It looks like what Jesus did for us. Here is what this love is. Here is how it functions. It is willing self-sacrifice for the redemptive good of another . It is willing . No one took Jesus’ life from him; he laid it down himself as an act of his own will. God calls us to be willing and ready to function as instruments of his love. It requires sacrifice . For Jesus, this meant his death. It is not likely to mean death for you or me, although it might. What is important to recognize, however, is the element of costliness. Love is costly. There is no such thing as true, active love that does not require sacrifice. God calls us to be willing to lay down our lives; to be willing to sacrifice time, energy, money, reputation, possessions—whatever may be necessary as we seek to love others as we have been loved. And we do all of this for the redemptive good of others. Jesus died so that salvation would be accomplished and transforming grace would be available. The cross guarantees that someday all of God’s children will be finally free of every last microbe of sin in every last cell of their hearts. So we look for opportunities to be part of what God is doing in the lives of others and we will not stop looking until all of God’s work is completed in all of his children. This call to love is second only to our call to worship God above anything else. And if this has been God’s will from the beginning, before the Fall, how much more is it needed as we live under the burdens of life in a broken world! Cruciform Love in the Here and Now Let me suggest in very functional, practical terms what it means to be committed to being an instrument of cross-shaped love:
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