Love

We can be committed to Christ as an idea. When we do this we are only using the eye of the mind and we can become like the Pharisees, committed but with a hard heart.

The other way to be committed to Christ is as a person. I would like to describe one way this can happen in a human life.

At some point in our life we look at our life and realize that we have made mistakes, we have hurt people, made poor choices and are trapped in ways of living that aren't healthy. When we do this we are filled with regret, guilt, shame and perhaps despair. It is so hard to come to God in this place because of God's perfection and holiness. Most of us shy away from God and live our life with God as thought but not as a present Reality.

This is where an encounter with Jesus is so important. It goes something like this. We stand before Christ aware of all the areas of our life where we have fallen short and all we can do is stand there and weep because of the utter failure we have made in an attempt to live our lives in ways that are good, pure and beautiful.

We are there with our head held low and our eyes filled with tears, we are so ashamed we can't even look him in the eye. At that moment he takes reaches out with his scare stained hands and gently takes our face and lifts it up so that we can see his eyes.

In his eyes there is absolutely no condemnation, only tenderness and love like we have never see before. It is like he is looking right through us into the depths of our souls, seeing us in our entirety and his only response is love.

Then he says to us "I love you, I have always loved you and I will always love you. You are my beloved and these scars on my hands, side and feet are a sign of my never ending love for you."

We say "How can this be, I am not worthy. I have made so many mistakes."

To which he says "I know, but nothing you can do can keep me from loving you. My love is grace, you can never earn it. I give it to you because God is love."

Our response is simply to fall down and worship our Beloved Lord. The he picks us up by the hand and says "come follow me."

When our soul encounters the radical love of God in Christ as described by the above story then the eye of our heart is opened and we love Christ because he has first loved us and we have experienced him not as an idea, but as a person who knows us, loves and gave his life for us. (Gal 2:20)