The Church would look a lot different if we really lived what we say we believe. The world would look a lot different, too. Maybe God would have sped the day of Jesus’ return if we had all been following Christ’s example these past 2000 years.

One of my favorite C.S. Lewis quotes is:

“Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”

This runs so contrary to our romantic notions of what love is: swooning lovers on a big screen with just the right lighting, makeup and orchestral score. If that is all love is, then we’ve been wasting our time. I would actually add to Lewis’ quote and say that true love is much stronger than just a wish for the loved person’s ultimate good. It is that, indeed, and all the emotion and fervor that accompany it, but it is much more. It is the carrying out of all of those actions we know will, in the end, insofar as it depends upon us, result in the best possible scenario for that person.

For God, this means sending Jesus to take our sins on the cross, bearing our shame and punishment so that we can have life just by believing in Him. It means a relentless pursuit of all of our energies and emotions and will and decisions. He wants all of us for only then will we be truly happy and truly holy. “He has made us for Himself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him” and His perfect will.

For us, this means lifting up not only our hands in worship (and that is important) to give Him glory, but laying down our lives so that He is glorified in every miniscule detail. It means death to sin and self and steady, disciplined growth in the grace and favor of Jesus Christ.

Jesus, God made man, the Word become flesh, shows us both facets of this love-in-action. He is the embodiment of perfect submission, true love, total and utter surrender. And it wasn’t easy for Him. We so often think that it was or must have been easy, but take another look.

See Him sweat great drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane and wrestle against His own man-will. Hear Him pray, “Father, if it’s possible, take this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done.”

And, getting back to my original thought, maybe that’s why we haven’t made as much progress as we should have by now. We simply love our own wills and ways too much, our own ideas of what should be and how life can be lived. Jesus says a servant is not greater than his master, so if Jesus is our master, how much are we really struggling against our own fleshly will and spending ourselves for Him? Are we looking out for our own agendas or are we pressing in to His heart, listening to His will and really loving Him? Is my entire life one long, uninterrupted seeking of the “ultimate good” of God?

“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Romans 12:1-2, NLT)