Being Wounded for Jesus

Since the beginning of this year, I've been reading this daily devotional by Adolf Schlatter called Do We Know Jesus? Today on July 23rd, I was confronted with this question: "How often does love bring pain because people we would like to help do no permit themselves to be loved?" Schlatter continues on to say that "In Jesus' service one receives wounds."

If you're like me, when I think of being wounded for Jesus, I often think of being physically hurt or thoroughly slandered and belittled by someone for the name of Jesus. But, to think about being wounded for Jesus by someone who refuses to be loved has made me rethink what it truly means to love my neighbor as myself (Mark 12:31).

When I reflect back on the past five years, I can see how the Lord has been teaching and showing me what it means to truly love someone as myself. It has been a process, but I can see how the Lord has been softening my heart towards others. The more the Lord has simplified my life, the more I've been able to look past my own circumstance and see the needs of others. The less complicated my life has become, the more I've been able to make room for others by beginning new relationships and deepening others. An interesting observation in the midst of all this is that, not only has the Lord simplified and uncomplicated my life, but He has also simplified and uncomplicated my heart. There is now a spaciousness in my heart for more of the Spirit of God and His passions.

One thing that I've learned on this faith walk is that Jesus is passionate about loving people by bringing them into salvation and redeeming everything in their lives to the glory of God. So, when Jesus encounters someone who refuses to be loved, this grieves and pains Him because He knows that sin has hardened this person's heart and now holds them in bondage against receiving the love and care that they need. We have to remember that loving others is a gift from God (1 John 4:19) and that to be able to serve another is a privilege that deserves a willingness to self-sacrifice.

When someone allows you to love on them by inviting you into their lives, take a risk and love them by sharing eternity with them. There is no greater expression of love than to lay down our lives for another in order to share eternity with them (John 15:13). And when someone refuses this kind of love our hearts should be wounded and we should be deeply grieved, not because they have refused our love and our pride is hurt or because we feel insecure about our own lovableness, but because in that moment we feel what Jesus felt as He hung from the cross.