A Labor Of Love

“Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” – 1 Corinthians 13:13. 

All this week we have been talking about the sinful woman that anointed Jesus’ feet in Luke 7. If you analyze what the woman did you see strong indications of faith, deep repentance, an unwavering commitment and love for Jesus. I doubt you could read anywhere in the Bible of another woman with more courage than this one because, evidently, this woman went into the house of Simon the Pharisee totally uninvited. The point is, she heard that Jesus was going to be there and she wasn’t going to let anything or anybody stand in the way of finding Jesus Christ. And in that day, that took a lot of courage.

But not only did she show courage, but she was distinguished by love. If you are looking to define love, aside for the love of God, you may want to take a good close look at this woman, because her actions reveal true love. The Bible says that when she found Jesus she fell at His feet. She did not stand up in the face of Jesus with some haughty high-minded attitude saying, “I’m no worse than all the other people in this room.” Rather, she revealed a spirit of humility and love when she was in the presence of Jesus. The question is have we ever demonstrated a love for Jesus like this woman? What would it mean for you to love Jesus the way this woman did? What would prevent us from doing that?

Maybe it is pride like that of Simon in the story. Or perhaps fear, or broken trust. Or maybe it is something in our past. 

The question is this: how much of our love do we express to Jesus?  Are we overwhelmed by the grace and goodness of Jesus and His love for us? Are we overflowing with love and thankfulness like the sinful woman? Will we demonstrate our love this year by doing the simple loving things for those around us? Will we bless others with what God has blessed us with? Will we expand the borders of our hearts and lives to find room for others?   

Perhaps you want to love Jesus more but don’t know how. Like the sinful woman who gave what she had, start with what love you have, be faithful in loving Jesus in the small things and He will lead you into a deeper love for himself.

In closing, I want to stress that it is only because Christ first loved us that we can love Him back at all.

Discussion Questions:

1. How easy do you think it is to live out the greatest commandment to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind?”
2. How does God’s love compare to the human expression of love? Do you agree with the statement “you’ll never know how to love God until you know how much God loves you?”
3. If you were completely honest, how would you rate your love for God? 
4. How can we love God in even greater ways than we do now?