What is one of your most important desires that if not met leaves you feeling empty, without direction, without purpose, and alone even if you are surrounded by people? What are three words that if you heard them spoken sincerely to you spark a relationship that goes deeper than the surfing with which most people are content? What connects you to someone that can withstand the waves of life that beat against your heart?
I suspect that many of you may be answering these
questions in this fashion: To be loved, “I love you,” and love.
Love, love, love. All you need is love. Love is
all you need. This Beatles hit song can spin the hearts of a man and a woman
into a whirlwind of emotion. Yet, much too often we find that this love that catches
our heart like Cupid’s arrow actually pierces to the depth of our soul and
finds a truer unmet need that if not satisfied will wash away superficial love
like a sand castle on the beach.
What am I talking about that would, if you
stripped away the “love” in a relationship or the “love” that we are supposed
to show others, still leave you empty, without direction or purpose, and alone?
Yes, some of you are already grasping the upper
story line, that all we need is God’s love, but that standing alone is not what
God wants. If that were true, when God made the first man, Adam, He would have
stopped there and said, “I am finished, I have made man, and his only purpose
is to love me.” We should know that is
not true. God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a
helper suitable for him.”1 God made woman from man and blessed them
saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth…”2
Now, before there is any misunderstanding of how I
am weaving this thread into its intended message, this is not about marriage,
sex, or making babies.
During Jesus’ last supper with His disciples he
told them, “My children, I will be with you only a little longer…A new command
I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another.”3
Jesus tells
them three times to “love one another”…as
I have loved you.
Therein is the message Jesus wants you to receive:
“Love as I love.”
Knowing
then that I am not talking about the Beatles love song, “All you need is love,”
what is your deeper desire that needs fulfilled that Jesus can fulfill in you
and wants you to fulfill with others?
To be understood.
How do you feel, sense, or discern God’s love for
you? Does He hug you, wipe away your tears, or hold your hand? Not in the
flesh, yet in your spirit you can feel the Spirit of God comfort you, lift you
out of your grief, and give you security…because Jesus understands you, your
situation, and the future that He destines for you. That is how Jesus
loved…with understanding.
And this is how Jesus lived out his love for all
of us:
My
servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot,
like a root in dry ground.
There
was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance,
nothing to attract us to him.
He was
despised and rejected—
a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest
grief.
We
turned our backs on him and looked the other way.
He was despised, and we did not care.
Yet it
was our weaknesses he carried;
it was our sorrows that weighed him down.
And we
thought his troubles were a punishment from God,
a punishment for his own sins!
But he
was pierced for our rebellion,
crushed for our sins.
He was
beaten so we could be whole.
He was whipped so we could be healed.
All of
us, like sheep, have strayed away.
We have left God’s paths to follow our own.
Yet
the Lord laid on him
the sins of us all.4
Jesus understands us all. He takes us as we truly are,
without our pretenses, our façade, or the face we put on for others to like us.
Jesus takes us as the vessels we are, broken and unable to hold water on our
own. He understands you and shows His love for you despite your brokenness.
I was inspired to write this meditation after
hearing this story about puppies for sale written by Dan Clark:5
A store owner was tacking a sign above his door that read
“Puppies For Sale." Signs like that have a way of attracting small children,
and sure enough, a little boy appeared under the store owner's sign. "How
much are you going to sell the puppies for?" he asked. The store owner
replied, "Anywhere from $30 to $50." The little boy reached in his
pocket and pulled out some change. "I have $2.37," he said. "Can
I please look at them?" The store owner smiled and whistled and out of the
kennel came Lady, who ran down the aisle of his store followed by five teeny,
tiny balls of fur. One puppy was lagging considerably behind. Immediately the
little boy singled out the lagging, limping puppy and said, "What's wrong
with that little dog?" The store owner explained that the veterinarian had
examined the little puppy and had discovered it didn't have a hip socket. It
would always limp. It would always be lame. The little boy became excited.
"That is the little puppy that I want to buy." The store owner said,
"No, you don't want to buy that little dog. If you really want him, I'll
just give him to you." The little boy got quite upset. He looked straight
into the store owner's eyes, pointing his finger, and said, "I don't want
you to give him to me. That little dog is worth every bit as much as all the
other dogs and I'll pay full price. In fact, I'll give you $2.37 now, and 50
cents a month until I have him paid for." The store owner countered,
"You really don't want to buy this little dog. He is never going to be
able to run and jump and play with you like the other puppies." To this,
the little boy reached down and rolled up his pant leg to reveal a badly
twisted, crippled left leg supported by a big metal brace. He looked up at the
store owner and softly replied, "Well, I don't run so well myself, and the
little puppy will need someone who understands!"
The little boy understood the puppy with the limp.
The next time you think that all you need is love, consider that your need to
be understood is what God’s love fulfills. Love one another with God’s love and
begin to desire to understand one another…your parents, brother, sister,
friend, husband, wife, coworker, the person serving you, the person you are
serving, the homeless wandering the streets, the drug addict, the stripper, the
alcoholic, the depressed, the anxious, the person afflicted with a disease…
Surely, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, the famed actor
whose life was destroyed by heroin, was loved by thousands, but was he
understood?
Surely, <fill in the name> whose life is
being destroyed by <fill in the tragedy, trauma or affliction>, but is he
or she understood?
Reach out today and understand someone…and let him
or her know that you do.
1Genesis 2:18
NIV
2Genesis 1:28
NIV
3John 13:33-34
4Isaiah 53:2-6
NLT
5From Chicken
Soup for the Soul (Volume I): 101 Stories to Open the Heart and Rekindle the
Spirit, © 1993 Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, published by Health
Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright ©March 30, 2014
by Jeff Cambridge
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