Matthew 10:7-8

"And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

THE COMPELLING LOVE OF JESUS

I was listening recently to the beautiful song, "Love Came Down." Have you heard it?

"Love came down and rescued me;
love came down and set me free,
I am Yours, I am forever Yours.
Mountain high, or valley low,
I sing out to remind my soul,
I am Yours, I am forever Yours."

I started to focus on Jesus and His love. As always, Jesus sets the best examples. Look with me if you will at a very familiar story from scripture, but with the emphasis on the story going in a little different direction. I'll start out by paraphrasing.

A rich, you man sees Jesus, is excited and comes running to Him. He falls to his knees and asks Jesus what must be done to inherit eternal life. Jesus responds by reminding the man that he knows the commandments and lists some of them. He reminds the man that he is not to murder, commit adultery, steal, testify falsely, or defraud people, but He is to honor his mother and father. I can almost hear the young man reply proudly............

"Teacher," he declares, "all these things I have kept since I was a boy."

Mark 10:21 "Jesus looked at him and LOVED HIM."

I love that! Time and time again Jesus knew what the pharisees or disciples were talking about or thinking before they even spoke to him, so there had to be a pretty good chance that Jesus already knew that this guy was going to walk away sadly when Jesus spoke to him about selling his processions. Yet Jesus, "looked at him and LOVED HIM." It didn't matter how this rich, young man was going to react. Jesus just loved him.

The example that Jesus sets tells me how I should react to people no matter what is going on. If someone is rude or short with me; I need to love them. Someone who hurries to get in front of me so that they can beat me to the checkout line, I need to look at them and love them. Someone cuts me off in traffic, I should look at them and love them.

Even on the cross, Jesus loved. Does that encourage you as much as it does me? If you really want to make a difference in this world, love like Jesus. That love crushes ugly strongholds.

It's easy to love people who like or love us, but to look with love on those who are indifferent to us is following in the footsteps of Jesus.

Come on.......smile, close your eyes and feel the warmth as Jesus is looking at you with an incredible love right now!

"Love came down and rescued me." (Don't forget to turn off the mixpod to the right)


Loving you like Jesus,
Mark S.



2 comments:

  1. Right now is when I needed this song. Now I keep listening on repeat. thank you for sharing. I will be finding the song on youtube to add to my own blogspot as well and what it means to my soul. thank you.

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  2. I'm so glad this ministered to you! I promise you are in my prayers. May the Lord continue to romance you with His love. Many smiles and blessings!

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