Sustained Love

“…Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” John 13:1

This concise statement of Jesus’ love has held my attention for over 40 years. I have come to see in this simple description of Jesus’ relationship with his disciples the very essence of perfect humanity. Being perfectly human is to sustain a love of consistent and perfect quality.

As I read over and over again the account of Jesus’ life and words, the thing that continues to grow in me is the conviction that Jesus never measured His love deciding who deserved it and who did not. Among those Jesus loved continuously was Judas. The same Judas, who would feel Jesus touch his feet and wash them, would soon betray Jesus’ love.

Even so, Jesus loved Him with exactly the same perfect love.

There is a kind of weariness and internal suffering that comes from deciding, person by person, who deserves my best love. When I divide the world into those who deserved my excellent love, those who deserve my good love, and those who don’t deserve my love, I quickly tire of keeping track and changing the love quality I deliver.

I know that God has given me some relationships that are closer than others. I only have one wife. I only have four children. Even so, I should have only one quality of love for every human being. This unmeasured love is seen in Jesus’ washing Judas’ feet along with the other disciple’s feet. It is seen in Jesus’ words to Peter that receiving Jesus perfect love is the only way to have any part with him.

No single person will ever spend more time with me than my wife Pam. She should be the one person in the world who has the most to gain or lose from the quality and delivery of my love. Even so, the person I meet today for just a moment should receive the same quality of love Pam should see all the time.

I believe this is what it means to be salt and light. No matter how brief our time in contact with salt or light, it must be the same quality of contact for one minute or for a year.

Stop measuring who gets the best quality of love from you. Let Jesus in you be the quality control of your love.

Your job is to deliver the perfect quality of Jesus’ love as fruit 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.

When you do God is glorified by being made visible and available in the world.