Love Is A Good Thing
“A
new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you” John
13:34-35
For quite a while now, I have been thinking about that “new” commandment Jesus gave in that upper room. In fact, I have thought about it so much that, given the opportunity, “As I have loved you” will be the title as the next book I write. Keeping this commandment…loving others as Christ has loved us…brings about some dramatic changes in our concept of love.
First and foremost, God’s love for us is unconditional.
It is offered freely and not based on love being returned.
That in itself makes it totally opposite from what we are accustomed to.
Simply put, when we “like” somebody, we expect them to “like” us
back. And if they don’t…well,
we’ll just “like” somebody else. To
love someone without expecting anything in return… well, that’s downright
painful! And pain, we are told, is
something to be avoided all together. All
around us we are told everyday there is no place in the world for a love like
that…that we are setting ourselves up for a broken heart…and we must be
crazy to want to hurt like that.
And yet, God loves me unconditionally everyday and many of those days He gets
nothing in return. Why He continues
to love me when I am so unresponsive is something I don’t understand…but I
would like to. I think at the center
of my search for the answer to that question is a profound truth.
Could it be that the greatest blessing comes in the giving of
unconditional love…not in the receiving of it?
And if that is true, then the pain of loving unconditionally
becomes…say…a blessing that exceeds all blessings…and when we suffer
because of the rejection of loving unconditionally, we get to share the pain of
love that God has for us? And when
we do, that pain is a good thing?
I want to share with you the lyrics to a song a friend introduced me to that has
really has impacted my search for God’s love.
The song is “Love Is A Good Thing” by Andrew Peterson.
It knocked me down, it dragged me out, it
left me there for dead
It took all the
freedom I wanted and gave me something else instead
It blew my mind, it bled me dry, it hit me
like a long goodbye
And nobody
here knows better than I that its a
good thing
Love is a good thing
It’ll wear you down till your heart just breaks and it’s a good thing
Love is a good thing
It’ll
wake you up in the middle of the night, it’ll take just a little too much
It’ll burn like a cinder till you’re tender to the touch
It’ll chase you down, swallow you whole, it’ll make your blood run hot and
cold
Like a thief in the night it’ll steal your soul and that’s a good thing
Love is a good thing
It’ll
follow you down to the ruin of your great divide
And open the wounds you try to hide
And there in the rubble of the heart that died you’ll find a good thing
Love is a good thing
It
can hurt like a blast from a hand grenade
When all that used to matter is blown away
There in the middle of the mess it made you’ll find a good thing
Yes, its worth every penny of the price you paid
It’s a good thing
Love is a good thing
In John 14:20, Jesus says to His disciples, “I tell you the truth, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.”
When we love others unconditionally, with no expectation of a return, as Christ
has loved us…there is going to be the pain of a broken heart.
But be of good cheer. Thanks
be to God….THAT’S A GOOD THING!!!
Love
IN Christ,
Billy