Saturday, August 27, 2016

guilty of love

Lewis talks about our "innocent" remarks today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that in many domestic squabbles, people hold double standards, and say things intent on drawing offense, then getting mad when the other person is offended. And he's right.

But this points our attention to the difference between being concerned about our own holiness and innocence on one hand, and loving other people on the other hand. See, as long as I am being "holy", I can justify my own actions even when they hurt others. But when my purpose is to love other people, then no matter what I do, if it hurts other people I find myself adapting to help them instead.

It all depends on our attitude. If I'm constantly trying to "be good" and "do the right thing", then I feel put upon and taken advantage of when I "already did ALL OF THAT" and the person still wants more, still needs more help.

But when I love the person, no act is too great, no sacrifice too much to take care of them. Like Jesus did for us, I believe. We needed far more than He was required to give. There was nothing in justice that required Jesus to come and join us in our humanness, to suffer our pains and temptations, and to die in our place. Not just to die, but to die and go to hell.

But He did, because of His love for us. And if we ask, He will infuse us with that love. He will teach us to love other people the way He loves us, so that no act is too great, no sacrifice too much to help them. Because love never fails.

God, thank You for Your love. Please teach us how.

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