…though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.
—2 Corinthians 12:15
{CHAMBERS} “Natural
human love expects something in return. But Paul is saying, “It doesn’t really
matter to me whether you love me or not. I am willing to be completely
destitute anyway; willing to be poverty-stricken, not just for your sakes, but
also that I may be able to get you to God.” “For you know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor…” (2
Corinthians 8:9). And Paul’s idea of service was the same as our Lord’s. He did
not care how high the cost was to himself— he would gladly pay it. It was a
joyful thing to Paul. […] His [Jesus’] idea is that we serve Him by being the
servants of others. […] He said that in His kingdom the greatest one would be
the servant of all (see Matthew 23:11). The real test of a saint is not
one’s willingness to preach the gospel, but one’s willingness to do something
like washing the disciples’ feet— that is, being willing to do those things
that seem unimportant in human estimation but count as everything to God. It
was Paul’s delight to spend his life for God’s interests in other people, and
he did not care what it cost. [To become] broken bread and poured-out wine in
the hands of Jesus Christ for the sake of others.”
{ELGIN} I wrote
about how we should respond to ingratitude the other day. The fact that we must deal with ingratitude
in our service to others is an indication that the love of God we show to
others is very often not reciprocated. And
reciprocity should not be a condition of our obedience to following the leading
of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the essence
of God the Father’s love for mankind, yet Jesus said (John 15:18-21) “If the world
hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world,
it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I
have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember
what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted
me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey
yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not
know the one who sent me.”
Don’t rely on
how people respond to you to be the reason for obeying what God told you to
do. If Jesus had done that, He would not
have gone to the Cross, He would have asked the Father to bring Him back to
heaven. Yet, that is not what
happened. I can tell you, responding
like Jesus did requires spiritual strength and faith. If the thought “This is not worth it” crosses
your mind, it is the flesh talking. Recognize
it for what it is and rebuke it, in the name of Jesus.
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