love without a price tag

Reflecting upon the cross, I at times wonder: Is my love conditional? Do I put a price tag on my love? Do I withhold or restrict it based upon the actions and character of others, effectively establishing the price which must be paid in order to receive it?

 

In moments of candor, we concede that none of us is immune to this tendency. Yet we recognize that humanity is at its best when our love most closely approximates the unconditional. Whispers of such unqualified love echo down through the human saga to stir our hearts: The Benedictine nuns who cared for 17th century plague victims, knowing full well it would require their lives; the gallant men who refused to board the Titanic’s lifeboats, giving their places instead to women and children; the countless military personnel who fell in killing fields far from home to secure the freedoms of people they would never meet. Such valorous acts move us because we know, somewhere deep in our souls, that this is what we are meant to be. Herein lies the power of redemption, inspiring us to rise up and become better people.

 

It is to this pinnacle that Jesus calls us, as he called the Twelve so long ago: “Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:12-13, NIV). While the heroism of those who have literally obeyed this summons cannot and should not be diminished, in a real sense it requires even greater resolve to observe this command day after day. To quietly and unassumingly seek the welfare of ally and foe, to give freely and sacrificially, to overlook the faults and slights of others – this is what Jesus intended when he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23, NLT).

 

Love is the only currency valuable enough to redeem our world. All others have, in our long history, been employed and have failed – hatred and bloodletting, enlightenment and philosophy, commerce and prosperity, tolerance and socialist dogmas. At best, these mask the underlying antagonisms and rifts. But love changes things. It was love which drove Jesus to the cross, love which coursed from his veins, love which endured the full fury of God’s wrath toward sin, love which reconciled us with the God who is himself love personified.

 

Shoulder your cross daily. Jesus speaks to us still, urging us gently but insistently to become agents of redemption in these desperate days. Will we love as he has loved us? Let us lay down all demands for payment, giving away freely that which was first given freely to us.