Love to the End

“It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God; so He got up from the meal, took off His outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around His waist. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around Him (John 13:1-5).”

Jesus...knowing that He was about to endure the painful torture of the cross (the most painful death the Romans ever concocted)...knowing that He would experience the betrayal of His closest friends....knowing that His body would be beaten to a pulp – literally...knowing that it was just a matter of time before the Roman guards came to lead Him away...found a nice, secluded place away from people to meditate His impending doom.

Can I just say (or write) NOT!!!

Jesus, our King, knew His end was coming, and what does John's Gospel say that He did? He didn't run away to contemplate or be concerned over what was going to happen in the near future. Instead, He did the same thing He commands us to do by example. He loved them, by serving them “to the end.”

We get so busy with our own lives, meditating on what we are going through or having to deal with at the moment, that we forget to LOVE to the end. We feel “the right” to find a place to hide away from the rest of the world. We've convinced ourselves that we need that much MORE than we do and end up treasuring those times of “get away” MORE than we should.

If you are anything like me, and hopefully you are not, you tend to draw back...to pull away when things get out of control. I want to run and find some quiet place to pull the covers over my head, sometimes giving the excuse that I simply need some time alone.

I'm not saying that time alone is necessarily a bad thing. What I am saying is that I think sometime I use it as an excuse not to push through and LOVE. Jesus pushed through. He sat at that table and heard the disciples wondering who was the greatest. He sat there, looking at each one, knowing that they would all eventually desert Him. He knew it all...their hearts...their minds...their misconceptions about Who He was. And to top it off, He knew His imminent, horrid death was approaching quickly. It was time...and yet, He didn't use that as an excuse to not love. Instead, He loved them - even to the end.

I think that's one of our problems as Believers, today. We don't love to the end. We love until it gets uncomfortable or makes us frustrated. We love until we're too busy, but not to the end. We don't put everything that God has put into us – His own presence and power - into our relationships with our family, our friends and definitely not our enemies.

If you don't belong in that description, I applaud your walk with the Lord and pray that He continues to use you mightily in the lives of those you serve. Yet, if you are like me, and find yourself lumped into the earlier paragraph, let's change. Let's decide to take our lives that were purchased with the precious, precious blood and suffering of our Savior and use them for Him.

I've always heard that the highest complement one could be paid was imitation. Let's pay Christ the highest compliment. Love...to the end.

Father, forgive me for when I don't love and don't love till the end. I desire to make You proud...to show others what a great and loving God You are. Help me do that through service for You and to You, alone. I love You, Lord.