Wednesday 28 Mar 2012

Wednesday Reading: Luke 7:44-48

Key Verse: Luke 7:47
47  Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

Devotion:
You may wonder why we should look at a passage like this when we are thinking about love, but when we remember that love is not a one-way street but something that needs a person to give and a person to receive, then we may start to recognise a few more things about love. Love is not just the intense emotion that one has for someone else – that is a dictionary meaning of the English noun. I don’t like to limit love to being a dictionary explanation or even a poetic explanation; but love to me is an all-encompassing institution that will not be broken down by some simple faults.

Simple faults? Hang on a sec, was not this woman a woman of the city who had been up to all manner of things? Yes, but it was what was now in her heart that made the big difference. Christ had seen inside her and had recognised that love that any Christian should and must have for God; that love that knows no bounds. We always like to set limits on the things that we will do or the things that we should do. This world has become so “politically correct” that we are no longer allowed to show our love in fear of being labelled as someone who takes advantage of others.

What this woman did was to come to Jesus in all humility. To lay down her life before Him and to set aside any pride that she would have displayed in her life in the city. She opened up her heart with all sincerity and invited Christ in, permanently. That was, and is, a great display of love; one that we should look at and wonder whether we have that inside of us. We also like to put a price on everything, not just things that we buy and sell or bargain for, but also the things that we do wrong or even right. We like to think that they balance each other out in some way so that we can end up being “OK”.

That is not what the woman did. She laid it all down before Christ in a single step and not expecting anything back. Yes, she wanted forgiveness. But her actions were not “I’ll do this if you forgive me” but rather “her I am with all my faults, please forgive me”. When we seek out love or want to display our love, we should not be going out to bargain with others so that we can get something out of it – we should simply offer all we have and expect nothing back. Love will return, maybe not immediately, but it will return because God will never let it rest.

Points to Ponder:
Are you always seeking bargains and deals?

Do you really think you can bargain with God?