Ever been in love?
Remember how crazy things were when you first fell in love? The minutes hung like hours when you were apart, and the time flew by so fast when you were together. No distance was too far to travel just to be together.
I fell in love with my wife Kathie at Point Loma University. For a whole year we were inseparable. Then she moved 350 miles away back to her home in San Luis Obispo. I know every inch of those miles because I traveled them often. Sometimes just for the day. Five hours of driving just to see her face and to hear her voice. It was extreme. It might’ve seemed wasteful, but I didn’t care. I was in love!
Love that remembers
One day Jesus was having lunch at a Pharisee’s house. A woman who was from a local brothel snuck in and sat at Jesus’ feet. She began weeping, in fact so much so that she was able to wash Jesus’ feet with her tears, and then began to wipe them with her hair. If that weren’t enough, she also poured costly oil all over his feet.
Everybody was watching.
Jesus asked the his host, “Do you see this woman?” “Uhh, yeah, kinda hard to miss her,” answered the Pharisee. Then Jesus told him,
“Her sins, which are many, are forgiven, therefore she loves much.” (Luke 7:47)
She was in love with Jesus. She was grateful for the grace he had shown her and did not care about how over the top or extreme her expression of love may of seemed.
Don’t be that guy
What was happening with the Pharisee is what can happen to us. Over time we can forget where God has brought us from. We lose that un-abandoned expression of our love for Jesus and our thankfulness for His grace. We see ourselves as having arrived, and can began look at people who are expressing their love for him as extreme, maybe even weird.
Don’t forget what God has done in your life, and more importantly don’t forget to express your love for him. Others may think you’re being extreme, but don’t worry about them. Be like the woman, not the Pharisee. God’s forgiven you extravagantly why not love him extravagantly!
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