What is one of/if not the #1 thing that all people search for in life?
Purpose and love. From what little wisdom I have, this is what I have seen. And where do these both perfectly originate in? Christ. ONLY CHRIST. In Him is perfect love, in Him is our drive, our purpose, and fulfillment.
As Christians, we are called to nothing more than to love, that is most simply the message of Christ, nothing else. What Jesus did for us upon the cross; His resurrection to life; he took all of our sin, all of OUR responsibility, OUR wage of death and put it all on His shoulders. This is absolute love in its most perfect form. The repitition of love outways every other stressed “command” in the Bible. Without love, what we do or how we live is more or less stated as meaningless.
When Jesus was asked by one of the teachers of the law, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” Jesus states it as his only command:
“The most important one is this: Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your stregth. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:29-31
This repeated by Paul in Galatians 5:14: “The entire law is summed up in a single command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'”
First, He commands us to love our God with all our heart, second to love those around as as we love ourselves. Both consist of what, love. Those two commands fulfill all we are called to do.
This is what defines us in Jesus Christ. It (love) shows us that we have been convicted by something truly beautiful. The world “pushes” us to be consumed with ourselves, to satisfy who our desires, our needs, our wants first. It is all about consuming yourself with yourself, that is the nature of man and sin. Love is the opposite. True love functions to oppose the “push” of the world in every way and our souls long for it, every man and woman. The comfort of knowing that there is always someone to love/that loves them and that they can to return into. No matter what burden the world brings, love shatters that, and breaks those chains that weigh the heart down.
This is conserved in every person, no matter who you are.
Love answers every law, everything that Jesus spoke of on the sermon on the mount.
Paul accounts of love in his writing to the church in Corinth. (Im sure you all have read these verses before, or heard them at least, if not multiple times.)
“And now I will show you the most excellent way. If I speak in tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, buthave not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love NEVER fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.” – 1 Corinthians 13
The chapter ends with, ” And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Paul clearly defines that every gift we could possibly have is meaningless without love.
Doing things, acting out for the good, giving time, money, efforts are all good… but they are fleeting, they last a moment and then are forgotten. But if done out of love; if love is experienced and then realized in them.. that is something that someone sees and knows forever.
I just want to use the example of giving gifts.
When I am given a gift, an expensive gift, such as an i-phone, i-pod, even a car, I would be ecstatically thankful for these but with time they fade away. They would be broken, lost, or sold. But, if I am given something, such as a card someone wrote to me that shows love in itself, or a gift that has some significance specifically to who I am, even if it may cost much less than a few dollars, those are the ones that I will remember for a lifetime, because behind them is love for the individual. I know how corny this sounds, but it is truth. The heart (love) behind something is what gives it true intrinsic value. Something that is not forgotten.
Now this is a corny, dumbed-down analogy, but I feel it can convey the meaning more simply none the less.
Now what does love look like? What do you think it looks like? What is love in its most perfect form? Look back at 1 Corinthians 13 and really read what love is: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love NEVER fails.”
The traits that this fallen world project upon us are opposite to love in every way, as previously discussed.
But now, more importantly look at Jesus. He is the perfection of love.
And, at least for me, I take what Jesus said in John 15 to co-notate love in two ways..
” This is my command: love those 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
“Carry each others burdens and in this fulfill the law of Christ.” – Galatians 6:2
Jesus Christ CARRIED our burdens. Jesus died as He carried all the burdens of you and I, all the sin, all the pain, all the suffering, all of the brokenness… There is truly no way we could ever understand this, or even begin to know how incredibly heavy this weight must have been on Him; and, in that burden, our God the Father turned His face from Jesus… Something truly unbearable. God being perfect, can have nothing to do with sin. But this is beyond beautiful, to know that this is how much our God loved, and continues to forever love us.
This is what Jesus did, He didn’t just die, He carried all our burdens with Him.
As such, we should model ourselves after Him. It is easy to say you would give your life for someone. Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” – Philippians 1:21. To die is to simply go home to our savior. To live, the only reason to live is for the name of Christ (we can refer back to “purpose” from Ecclesiastes). To lay down your life for those around you, to share their burdens and help carry their struggles, just as Christ carried what should have been OUR cross, that is love. Jesus is the perfect model for us in every facet of our lives.
How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure
How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory
Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers
It was my sin that left Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
– How Deep The Father’s Love For Us – Stuart Townend
andrewfire 
I also want to clarify. I NEVER want to belittle the death of Jesus. There is nothing greater ever shown to this world. It is the culmination of both Jesus’ death and the burden that He bore of our sin that is the most beautiful love humanity can ever know. Man has nothing more to offer than to lay down His life. To give your life, is to give the ultimate gift, there is no more a valuable thing that we posses.
Now understand that Jesus didn’t just die for the ones that also loved Him, but also for those that hated Him, that mocked Him. The very hands that took His life, those are the people He died for, those are the people he loves.
It would be like you walking up to a stranger, a murder, sentence to death, and then you saying to Him, that you would take his place, and he turns around and stabs you…
There is no expression that man can ever put into words that could define the beauty of what Jesus did for us. It is something that will forever put me in awe and tears until the day I die.
It is because of that love which we find in Him, that is so consuming, we are able to share it with those around us. It should simply be something that you cannot contain, it should burn with such an inferno in your heart, that it emits from who you are. And in that, your life should be lived with a love that is able to carry the burdens of those around you, because it is a love beyond explanation, it is supernatural.
I included the song because it conveys so clearly, and individually, that Jesus bore our burdens, so undeservingly.
I can’t help but share this. Follows so closely along with what I have been so convicted for, and much along the lines of what I wrote above, I thought I would share this.
TAKE UP YOUR CROSS
by Max Lucado
The phrase “take up your cross” has not fared well through the generations. Ask for a definition, and you’ll hear answers like, “My cross is my mother-in-law, my job, my bad marriage, my cranky boss, or the dull preacher.” The cross, we assume, is any besetting affliction or personal hassle. My thesaurus agrees. It lists the following synonyms for cross: frustration, trying situation, snag, hitch, and drawback.
The cross means so much more. It is God’s tool of redemption, instrument of salvation—proof of his love for people. To take up the cross, then, is to take up Christ’s burden for the people of the world.
Though our crosses are similar, none are identical. “If any of you want to be my followers, you must forget about yourself. You must take up your cross each day and follow me” (Luke 9:23 CEV, emphasis mine).
We each have our own cross to carry—our individual calling. Discover your God-designed task. It fits. It matches your passions and enlists your gifts and talents. Want to blow the cloud cover off your gray day? Accept God’s direction.
“The Lord has assigned to each his task” (1 Corinthians3:5 NIV). What is yours? What is your unique call, assignment, mission? A trio of questions might help.
In what directions has God taken you?
What needs has God revealed to you?
What abilities has God given to you?
Direction. Need. Ability. Your spiritual DNA. You at your best. You and your cross.
While none of us is called to carry the sin of the world (Jesus did that), all of us can carry a burden for the world.
Check your vital signs. Something stirs you. Some call brings energy to your voice, conviction to your face, and direction to your step. Isolate and embrace it. Nothing gives a day a greater chance than a good wallop of passion.