100 Percent!

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When we are spending time with people, I think most of us want those relationships to look a certain way.  We want the friendship or relationship to go both ways, be reciprocal, have a give and take, or be somewhere close to “50/50”. It’s pretty normal to have that perspective about most things. With friends, family, coworkers, classmates, whoever it is, there is a certain level of expectation that relationships go two ways. It’s an investment. And with investments there is usually something received in return.

But here’s my dilemma… what if Christ loved us under those conditions? What if Christ only loved us if we loved him first.  What if he loved us the more we did for him? It’s a good thing that this is so far from how to characterize Christ’s love. Christ’s love is unconditional. He doesn’t ask us to come half way. He comes all the way, no matter how far into the depths that all the way is. He doesn’t ask anything of us, except for us to let Him in. There is no formula, no agenda, no guideline. Just LOVE. It reaches beyond anything we can even imagine. We can’t even picture how much He loves us because it is just too big.  Nothing we ever do will earn more love or take away His love. We don’t deserve it. We don’t even know how to fully understand it.  But we can receive it.

So we say we love as Christ loves, but do we really?  Don’t we usually have some sort of agenda lurking in the background? We say we are giving and loving people and don’t expect anything from them but I am not sure if that is always the truth. Maybe you are struggling today with your expectations of people and feeling let down.  Remember that Christ will never forsake you or leave you.  Keep striving to experience more of His love in your own life, and also overflow and love others with the abundance of love. Of course our friendships with people are going to look a little different than a relationship with Christ, but knock someone’s socks off with how much you love them.  Get excited to love without expecting anything in return. Christ calls us to love God and love people.  Although we can in no way reach the level of his love for us, we can strive to love him with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. And out of that love for him we will be compelled to share that love with other people.

Christ has written on our hearts the desire for relationship.  We just get it a little confused in our humanness when we think more about what we want rather than the needs of others.  Don’t try to have 50/50 relationship. Don’t keep score.  Have 100/0 relationship and see how much you can bless others. Be willing to give more than you get. When Jesus loved Zacheus he wasn’t trying to get some deal on his taxes.  When Jesus reached out to the woman at the well, He had no hidden agenda. When Jesus fed the 5,000 it wasn’t so people would give him food in return.  He served, acted, moved, breathed and spoke in love.  He defines love. He encompasses love. He is LOVE.

Philippians 2:1-11 “Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Pick one way to show Christ’s love. Let us know how it goes by commenting!