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MEDITATION:

Written by Les Parrott, a contemporary professor of psychology at Northwest University and co-founder of the Center for Healthy Relationships. This is an excerpt from his devotion “Love Like That.”

I’m not a softhearted poet. I’m not a people-pleasing idealist. I live with full-throttle ambition and no shortage of self-interest. I’m impatient and sometimes insecure. I jockey for position, and I like exclusive privileges. I can be judgmental, insensitive, petty and resentful. Oh, and I can be cheap and stingy. But I want to love like Jesus. Why? Because I know it’s the best way to live. When we love like Jesus, we’re lifted outside ourselves. We shed self-interest — with our spouse, our kids, friends, everyone. His brand of love sees beyond the normal range of human vision — over walls of resentment and barriers of betrayal. When we love like Jesus, we rise above petty demands and snobbish entitlement. We loosen our tightfisted anxiety and relax in a surplus of benevolence. Most of all, the Jesus model of love inspires us in following the best way to live, “the most excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31b, NIV). I want to love like that.

But can anyone really love like Jesus? After all, He raised the bar of love to extraordinary heights. Love your enemies? Walk the extra mile? Turn the other cheek? Seriously? This is love beyond reason, isn’t it? Of course. And that’s the point. To love like Jesus, we need to think and feel. We need reason and emotion. Both head and heart, working together. It’s the only way to bring perfect love into our imperfect lives. Here’s the truth: When you open your heart, love changes your mind. Let that sentence soak in. Your mind can do an about-face and be transformed when it receives a divine impulse from your heart. You’ll experience a revolution in your thinking when you allow your heart to enter the conversation.

PRAYER:

From The PC-USA Book of Common Worship.

God of love,

as in Jesus Christ you gave yourself to us,

so may we give ourselves to you,

 living according to your holy will.

Keep our feet firmly in the way where Christ leads us;

make our mouths speak the truth that Christ teaches us;

fill our bodies with the life that is Christ within us.

In his holy name we pray. Amen.