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Saturday,
December 12, 2009
Selfless Love
The elements of first love then are
simplicity and purity…The love of the Church to Christ is typified by the
love of the wife for the husband. What then is the love of Christ to the
Church? Unselfish love, love in which there was no single thought of
self. (from Wycliffe Commentary)
Romans 5:6-8 For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. (7) For scarcely for a
righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even
dare to die. (8) But God commendeth (to prove, to show, to demonstrate) his
love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (KJV)
He first loved us; and He demonstrated it
by having put into place before the foundation of the world a plan of
salvation for each and every one of us. He gave us His only begotten Son
who died for us that we might have life and life more abundantly. A
selfless act of love.
Selfless - without consideration for
oneself; unselfish
Self denial – denial of one’s own desires
and passions
Jesus of Nazareth, a man just like you
and I, laid down his life continually; he denied his own fleshly desires
and passions, learning to keep them in subjection to the Spirit of Christ
within him which strengthened and encouraged him in the way of
righteousness. He had a choice each and every day whether He would continue
in what was being asked of Him, to continue in a selfless love, that being
no single thought of self, but to continually desire and to do the will of
God.
Now remember without Christ he could do
nothing; Christ being the Word brought to life within him. And yet Christ
had to be willing as well, to separate himself from the comfort that He
enjoyed. Willing to be sent in the likeness of sinful flesh, to condemn sin
in the flesh; willing to take on the sin of mankind; willing to be
separated from God and to help mankind who had sold out to pleasure for a
season only to find out it had separated them from God; willing to be the
way of reconciliation for mankind.
The two became one new man, so making
peace. Jesus and Christ became the perfect sacrifice by working together
for the common goal, for the will of God which was being asked of them by
our Father in heaven. Jesus Christ became the way of escape for all of
mankind; but only those that truly desire and take the time to seek it will
find it. They were willing to make peace with God for us and allow Him to
reconcile us to Him. They were willing to forsake the pleasures of this
life so that you could have the pleasure of eternal life. In the end they
were willing to die for us to fulfill God’s will, and that His joy would be
fulfilled to see that His children walk in truth. Grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ.
Matthew 26:39 …O’ my Father, if it be possible,
let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt.
(KJV)
Would you be so willing? Willing to deny
yourself as He did; willing to go through what He did; willing to deny
self; willing to lay down your life for His sheep? Willing to operate in
His selfless love?
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