A thought by John Ortberg (2015-05-05) from his
book, Life-Changing Love: Moving God's Love from Your Head to Your Heart (p. 24). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the
title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
John shares a story by Anne Lamott.
It was “of an eight-year-old boy who had a younger sister dying of leukemia. He
was told that without a blood transfusion she would die. His parents asked if
they could test his blood to see if it was compatible with hers. He said sure.
They tested, and it was a match. Then they asked if he would give his sister a
pint of his own blood, that it could be her only chance of living. He said he
would have to think about it overnight. The next day he told his parents he was
willing to donate the blood. They took him to the hospital; he was put on a
gurney beside his six-year-old sister. Both were hooked up to IVs. A nurse took
a pint of blood from the boy, which was given to his sister. The boy lay in
silence as the blood that would save his sister dripped from the IV, until the
doctor came over to see how he was doing. Then the boy opened his eyes and
asked, ‘How soon until I start to die?’” Somewhere he had thought that by giving
his blood he would die but after a night of thinking about it he decided to
give it anyway because he really loved her.
You see “the test of love is that it
gives even when there is no expectation of a return.” John says, “Giving is to love what eating is
to hunger. Giving is how love expresses itself. ‘God so loved the world that he
gave…’ begins the most familiar statement in Scripture. Giving is love with
character. Without acts of servanthood, love has no skeletal structure, nothing
to support itself.”
So much of what we call love today is
Eros love. John says, “Eros finds giving
easy in the early stages. Cards and flowers and foot rubs flow effortlessly as
the Nile. The early rush of feelings supports this. These feelings are a kind
of emotional training wheels, but sooner or later they have to come off. Eros
may give, but only when it expects a fair rate of exchange.”
But you see, “Love is never so fully
love as when it gives.” Not out of obligation,
not out of expectation, but just because you really love them. That is just what real love does.
So how is your love doing today?
Comments
Post a Comment