Worship Love by Rocky Fleming
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
Yeshua
Loving a particular person, other than those we like, is easier for some people than others. Still, we are not exempt from Jesus’ commandment, and Jesus’ love is not a like / love kind of love. It is a deeper tenderness. A hidden place. A place of worship. A sacrificial love. That is the kind of love Jesus speaks of.
Worship love does not look at the person and love them in spite of themselves, although that is a noble effort. Rather, it is to look through the person and see Jesus on the other side beckoning us to love and worship Him, as we speak or act, or serve with acts of kindness the person in front of us. Why do I say this? I say it for that is the way Jesus loves us, and He commanded us to love as He did. He looks through us. He looks through our offenses, our ugliness and our pitiful, selfish state, and loves us while He loves His Father. His is a love of obedience to His Father. That’s the way He tells us to love. His love is an act of service, of care, of nurturing of the unworthy person. That is the way He wants us to love our fellow brother and sisters in Christ. Jesus’ love had His Father’s heart and mission in it. That is the way Jesus wants His family to love each other, with His heart and mission in mind. He doesn’t suggest this. He commands it. It is not about feelings and our likes or our reasons not to love, which we can have many. It is an act of obedience to Jesus. It is an act of worship, not because a person deserves it or not. Rather, it is because Jesus deserves it.
Worship love sets us free from the conditions that limit our normal love. There’s a different target, a different motivation, and a different power at work within us, for Jesus helps us. He knows we are constrained by conditional love, for we have been trained by it. Our culture tells that we will be loved if …. (fill in the blank). Wherever there is an if there’s a condition. Worship love loves because we are loved and there is no “if.” There is only a because, a reason, a need to give from that Love given to us. We give that love Jesus gives to us. There’s the reason, the why, and because He commanded it.
Worship love reproduces. It models the heart of Jesus, and everyone wants to get in on that. We are looking for it, for it is clearly a need in society and in ourselves. We need it, for when Jesus stepped into our life, He immediately wanted to get out into our world around us. His love through us is His expression to our world that “The Great I am is here.” His love through us changes hearts by showing compassion. We are a walking, talking temple of God, where the Holy Spirit resides, and His love must flow out of us, if we want to receive more of that fresh Living Water that He speaks of. We have to make room for it, by giving it away. Compassion is the delivery system for worship love, for compassion is rarely refused. Think about it. When was the last time you showed someone compassion and they cursed you for it, or ran from it? Did they slap you in the face and tell you, “Take that you compassionate Bum?” Really? Didn’t they thank you and tell you that they needed it. Why? For everyone needs compassion, nurturing, concern and care for our feelings, which are the trademarks of worship love. Get it. It’s Jesus breaking through the surface of our life. He told His disciples to love each other, for they needed to so as much for themselves as the other person. But, even so, He commanded it, and that’s enough reason, isn’t it?
God created us and reformed what he created into adopted children. Jesus brought us to the Father, and we’ve been fully embraced by Him as a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Since He’s been in on our creation and reformation since the beginning, you’d think He knows what’s good for us, wouldn’t you? He does. He’s says love each other and find out what’s missing and then found. Find the significance we desire. Find the purpose we long for. Find the connection with Him that the created desires with the Creator. Worship love is the way, the truth and the life. The life is Jesus, and the love of Jesus is the way, and His love is the truth of what mankind is looking for.
Never has there been a time so critical for the Church, God’s family, to love each other as now. Listen to Jesus. Do you hear Him say, “I command you?” Is it really that hard to give away that which has been so freely given to you? Back to the question, “Doesn’t He deserve it?” Now is the time to start loving, and it is a greater motivation that when we do, we worship Him, and it pleases Him. Now is the time, for the need is great.
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”
Yeshua