The Morning Star Rising on the First Day
The Morning Star Rising on the First Day
Christian Love Bears All Things
Today we present yet another of the selfless actions of Jesus as an example of Christian love. We previously introduced the subject “Love Bears All Things” in our post entitled (What-is-Christian-Love). In this posting we addressed Paul’s dissertation on the subject of love, originated in the First Letter to the Corinthians.
We are well served to think of God’s love for us when we think about the statement, “Love bears all things.” Love is long suffering in that it bears the faults, the mistakes and even the rebellion of others. After all, this is what God does for us. God’s love is forgiving even when we do not deserve it. If we go astray, God waits for the moment when we turn back to Him and when we do, we find that He is there for us. We find that He is not angry but rather wanting to receive us back and to joyously pour out His blessings upon us. In fact, isn’t this exactly what happened in the parable of the prodigal son we introduced earlier?
This aspect of, “Christian Love Bears All Things” is precisely the love that Jesus took to the cross in forgiving our sins. His blessings upon all mankind were manifest on the cross as He was willing to bear all forms of torture and punishment in exchange for our salvation.
Jesus Nailed to the Cross
In effect, He took our rightful torture and punishment upon Himself so that our relationship with the Father could be restored as it was in the beginning in the garden. The following passage demonstrates the love of Jesus, a love that can bear all things:
And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left. Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” And they divided His garments and cast lots. (Luke 23:33)
Jesus Sheds His Blood on the Cross
It is difficult to grasp the depth of love Jesus had for us when He bore the pain, suffering, and humiliation of the crucifixion and then forgave the people who performed this despicable deed. He forgave the people that pounded the nails into His hands, wiped the flesh from His body, humiliated Him with false worship, spit upon Him and crowned Him with thorns that pierced His head.
Jesus' Crown of Thorns
In this act of love Jesus demonstrated how Christian Love bears all things. Sweet Jesus, we can only marvel at the wonders of your perfect love. May we be blessed with your love forever and may our praise of your name be upon our lips all eternity.
With all of this said we may find it appropriate to look at our own lives to examine how well we bear all the difficult things that life can bring our way. Jesus has given us the perfect example of His love as an example for us to emulate. So, how well do we deal with the imperfections of others? How ready are we to forgive those who harm us? To what degree are we ready to suffer in an effort to help our fellow man? How much inconvenience can we tolerate in support of the poor, the disenfranchised or the persecuted? Have we been willing to take a stand as Jesus did for the salvation of those who do not know what they are doing?
The purpose of these publications on the topic of love is to assist anyone who is seeking to become more like their savior Jesus Christ. Our approach is to communicate that the life and words of Jesus are the perfect model of what we hope to become. Our expectation is that the reader will contrast the words and actions of Jesus to their own to discover where they fall short of the perfect love. Once any shortcomings are identified then the reader can seek the assistance of the Holy Spirit to help them in moving closer to the perfection of the examples that Jesus left us.
We recommended that every person in ministry reflect upon their worthiness to serve by first studying these examples of Christian love.
We have presented a number of posting that address the principles of Christian Love. Each of them is reinforced by examples taken from the life and words of Jesus. The following list of hyperlinks is provided to help those interested in reading these other postings. Clicking on any of the links below will transfer you to the posting of your choice:
Christian-Love-Does-Not-Parade-Itself
Christian-Love-is-Not-Puffed-Up
Christian-Love-Does-Not-Behave-Rudely
Christian-Love-Does-Not-Seek-Its-Own
Christian-Love-is-Not-Provoked
Christian-Love-Bears-All-Things
Christian-Love-Believes-All-Things
SEEKING JESUS 
Interesting post. I am currently reading Francis Chan’s Forgotten God, and blogging all about it. I highly suggest the book. You should check out what I am writing @ http://whatsnextgod.com