Saturday Devotional - 6/8/13 "The Cross: A Sacrifice of Love" My body agrees with the sunlight, no doubt about it. You see, for some reason when it’s dark and I am off work, I have a tendency to fall asleep on the couch almost instantly when I sit down. This is very unfair to my wife (who pretty much only speaks to our two children all day, every day), because she desperately wants to have a conversation with me when I get home from work. One evening, about a month ago, I was driving home from church and the Lord suddenly opened my eyes to my own selfishness. It was as if a blindfold was lifted and I was miraculously able to see the rut I had been stuck in. In Ephesians 5:25, Paul has an exceedingly wise exhortation to husbands. He says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her…” Did you notice the word “gave”? That word in Greek means “to deliver up one to custody, to be judged, condemned, punished, scourged, tormented, put to death.” This means that because Christ loves His bride (us), He gave Himself up to torment, and ultimately death. Jesus reminds us in John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” The cross, in all of its gruesome and gory detail, paints a picture that loudly exclaims “love” and that really makes me evaluate the usage of that word in my own life. Love is always about self-sacrifice. Now, I am not saying that we all need to go out and physically die for the ones we love; that’s not it at all. But I realized that night, a month ago, that I wasn’t even giving my attention to my wife the way she undoubtedly deserves it. In contrast, Christ gave us not only His attention, but He gave His life to be tortured and put to death on the cross, so we can experience eternity with Him—this is the greatest display of love we will ever know. I feel compelled to challenge you this morning the same way I am challenged daily: evaluate your heart and the relationships you have with others, use the cross as a template, and begin to love like you’ve not been capable of before! After all, the world will recognize Christ in us by our love… Andrew Enos Copyright © 2013 Wildwood Calvary Chapel Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Jun 2013 13:34:44 +0000
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