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A GODLY SENSE OF SELF

Jesus died for His enemies—for all of us. He did not love His neighbour as Himself, but more than Himself, in choosing to die for us. But doesn’t that sound similar to some of those we have described, who operate out of a false and sinful imitation of divine love? We must remember the godly principle of Christian action we have established: Jesus was not seeking to do His works in order to be loved, either by the Father or by those to whom He ministered. The love of the Father was so real and totally satisfy­ing to Him, that how others ‘looked at Him and treated Him was second to that all-fulfilling relation­ship with the Father. There was no inner, unsatisfied need in Jesus that made Him die for us so that we would love Him.

Under Command

Jesus died for us, His enemies, not because He hoped that in so doing He would gain our love, but because the Father commanded Him to do so. In that sense, the death of Jesus was the crown of His life, because all His life He had done only what the Father willed. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He uttered the words which controlled His life, ...not My will, but Thine be done

(Luke 22:42).

Jesus was a true person, a true self, the blueprint of man that God intended us all to be. A true self does not look after the self but chooses to surrender it to God, to listen to and obey Him. This is the life of joy, peace, meaning, and significance; at the same time, it is often the life of self-sacrifice, even to death. If Jesus had died to help people, it would have been pointless, a wasted heap of ashes; but, because He died at the Father’s command, He was exalted to be their Saviour and Rescuer. Likewise, Christians are called to obey God, not to go around laying down their lives for everyone who asks them to, ending up on the ash heap and whimpering that no one cares. Whenever we are simply responding to people’s needs out of our own deep need for love, we are always disappointed, for very few of those we try to help will care enough to even say thank you! But if we act because the Father commands us to, then we know that we are part of a greater whole, and our sacrifice is knitted into the ongoing purpose of God.

Christians lay down their lives for the people their Abba tells them to! And so, in it all, they have the strengthening of the Holy Spirit, they have a joy set before them, and they know they are not alone.

Joy Unspeakable

Again, it was in West Africa that I sat in a hut. The walls were made of mud strengthened with tree branches, and the roof was made of many layers of grass woven through branches. A hole in the roof let out the smoke from the fire that burned in the middle of the floor. In the corner was a narrow bed, and a cuckoo clock hung on the mud wall. Opposite me, in an ancient rocking chair, sat a charming American lady, old enough to be my grandmother, knitting a sweater. I had come on behalf of the churches that supported her, to plead with her to come home to a well-earned retirement. At seventy-five years old, she had served the people of this tribe for forty years. She smiled and told me to cash in the ticket, which I had brought with me for her trip home to Michigan.

She had laid down her life for these people—but it was not a heap of ashes. It was the expression of the love of God in and through her. She had obeyed God her Father, which involved laying down her life in the power of the Spirit for these people for these many years. Dying to her own will, she lived in the resurrection of joy and peace, and that mud hut was a palace to her. In fact, I felt I was sitting in the pres­ence of royalty!

I have seen pastors and lay leaders lay down their lives for their flocks, and do so at the Father’s command, with the result that they have vibrant mental and emotional health. These Christians find fulfilment in loving others with sacrificial love. Jesus taught that we would be filled with a joy unspeakable when we fulfilled the reason for our being by loving one another with God’s love. In Luke 15, in three parables, He tells of the neighbours and friends gathering to celebrate the finding of the lost; in one of these parables, the return of the prodi­gal son resulted in killing the fatted calf and dancing and rejoicing. But take careful note: The shepherd didn’t go looking for the sheep in order to have a celebration where he would be honoured for his heroic rescue! Nor did the father welcome home the rebel son because he desperately needed to eat the calf and have an all-night party. If that had been the case, he would have regu­larly scoured the neighbourhood, looking for anyone who was lost and even remotely connected to his family so that he could kill another calf.

The overflowing joy that comes when God’s love in us acts is the bonus that is thrown in, not the reason for the act. We act upon His guidance and direction because of our deep love for Him, which emanates from the unconditional love He has shown us. And the result of our love action is that we are miraculously filled with and surrounded by His unspeakable joy.