SISTAH TALK

February 2012
Catherine Farnes
Laurel, MT

In our culture, LOVE is definitely the buzz word for February! We are relentlessly conditioned to associate LOVE with things like diamonds, roses, perfume, chocolates, warm mushy sentiments, kisses on beautiful beaches, and all sorts of other earthly and sensual delights. But it was no warm mushy feeling or any other earthly or sensual quest for delight that put Jesus on the cross for us. It was the ultimate LOVE self-sacrificially lived out. And it is that kind of LOVE that He is talking about when He commands us to LOVE others.

So let’s consider four characteristics of Jesus’ brand of real-life, life-changing LOVE.

L Love LOOKS. During our 14-year-old daughter Bethany’s cancer treatment in Denver, CO, I would occasionally bring her, bald and in a wheelchair, to a store near the hospital to buy colored duct tape for the roses she was always making for all the nurses and other patients. It felt cruel to me sometimes when other shoppers, just busy about living their regular lives, seemed to have no bigger concern than the ridiculous price of chicken or the fact the store had run out of their favorite brand of toilet paper. It was during one such moment, when I was lamenting to God about it, that He ever-lovingly took the opportunity to show me how self-absorbed I, too, can be. So full of my own thoughts, schedule, daughter’s illness…that I wasn’t even noticing most of the people I was passing by beyond making sure I didn’t bump into them with Bethany’s wheelchair. Right there in the middle of the school supplies aisle, I said, “Lord, forgive me!” Because LOVE pays attention. It looks around and notices people. It notices life and need and pain and opportunity. Even in the middle of its own suffering—like Jesus offering life to the thief on the cross beside Him.

O Love OVERTHROWS Self. Think about someone you struggle to love. What is it about this person that challenges you? Too loud? Too quiet? Too needy, too put-together, too holy, too unholy, too cranky, too bubbly, too nosy, too disinterested, too….you fill in the blank. Bottom line, Sistahs, if you want to love like Christ loves, you have to overthrow, overcome, outshout, outshine, and get over yourSELF. Jesus died for you when you were too sinful, too selfish, too ignorant, too…you fill in the blank.

V Love VALUES. Do you frequently remind yourself that everyone around you is someone for whom Christ died? That would include, but is not limited to, the annoying teenagers in the pew in front of you, the grouchy sister who feels it is her duty to God and everyone else to point out all your flaws, the irritating co-worker, the slow person in line or in the car in front of you, the waitress who forgets your side of ranch. LOVE values people because God values them…enough to die for them just like He valued you enough to die for you.

E Love ENGAGES. Warm compassionate feelings or impulses to do good things for people are commendable. A burden for someone who is lost is admirable. But LOVE doesn’t just feel, wish, hope, or get all weepy. LOVE acts. LOVE does. LOVE steps in. LOVE demonstrates itself in ways that can be seen, felt, experienced, and remembered. LOVE engages. Where would you be if Jesus had been content to feel compassion for you in His heart but had stopped His LOVE short of engaging at the cross?

Jesus said in John 15:12, “This is my commandment that you LOVE one another as I have loved you.” Imagine what He could do through us if we would actually dare to LOVE like that!