The Things We Do For Love

And now for the rest of the story...Oops! That's Paul Harvey's line, isn't it?

When I left you last, I had shared with you the story of helping my son to tie his tie by using a computer cord to simulate a tie. But there are some other lessons I want to draw from this story.

After my son's dancing date with his girlfriend (my wife and I love her too!), we were sent pictures of the two of them on their date. Here's my son's beautiful girlfriend sitting next to this handsome young man (my son) wearing a tie. I looked at the picture to see how well the knot on the tie came out using simple phone instructions. Not bad! Then I noticed what a wonderful couple they are. Finally, I noticed that my son was wearing a pink tie.

Now, understand, I have nothing against males wearing pink. I have a pink dress shirt and a pink tie in my own wardrobe. But what was amazing to me was this: My son is Mr. Casual when it comes to fashion. Unlike his father who dresses more formally for occasions such as church (I love ties, by the way), my son prefers wearing jeans or khakis with an open collar. I have no problem with this. But here was my son, of his own free will, choosing to wear a tie! Why? Because he loves his girlfriend and would even wear a tie--a pink tie, at that--to please her. Now, I doubt very much if I had asked him to wear a pink tie to church, for example, that he would have done that. But it's amazing what we will do when we're motivated by love.

Which brings me to a couple of passages from the Bible. Look at what Jesus was motivated to do by love. "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8.

Paul tells us that before we were even inclined to respond to Christ positively--because He was motivated by love--He chose to die for us. Why? It was a simple choice because He loves us.

Here's how Jesus Himself described this love in John 15:13, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Love provides the motivation for doing some things that we probably wouldn't do otherwise.

One final text before I wrap this up. "We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19.

Jesus loved us first, and He showed His love by His willingness to die on our behalf. And because He first loved us, it motivates us to love Him in return. When we begin to grasp the reality of how much He loves us, it's amazing what that will motivate us to do.

So during this next week, I want to encourage you to just think about how much you are loved by God. He loves you so very much, He was willing to die for you. And as you let that reality sink in, think about what you might do to show Him that you also love Him in return.

Ah, yes: The things we do for love!