A Kind of Love That Sacrifices, Understands, and Surrenders

Love is mentioned 714 times in the Bible and the first mention is in Genesis 22:2.

“Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love,
and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you”.

Love sacrifices–

The obedience and respect that Abraham displayed to God were evident as he prepared his only son as a sacrifice. Abraham’s love for the Lord is seen throughout this story as it plays out. He would have given up Issac simply because God asked. It’s revealed throughout Abraham’s example that love requires a level of faith and trust. Without raw conviction and confidence in the one you love, times of hardship can easily shatter it into a thousand pieces.

It’s not coincidental that the first description of love in the Bible involves sacrifice.

This kind of sacrificial love can be seen again in the story of Jesus. In John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

If God’s love for us involves sacrifice, our love for Him and one another should as well.

The fundamental foundation of love isn’t built on an altar without a lamb.
Love doesn’t grow without self-surrender.
Love can’t exist when the first fruits are given second.
Love can’t stand up when things get difficult if it crumbles during the easy.
Love can’t build a dwelling place filled with gaping holes.
Love doesn’t leave when it’s uncomfortable, it simply turns the other cheek. 

Love understands–

God is the author of love and everything that strays from His definition of love cannot be called love. Starting in 1 John 4:7–

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”

Loving one another acknowledges that we must first know God. And to know God means spending time with Him. We live in a culture that puts a lot of importance on “self-love”. However, when we dissect what it means to truly appreciate yourself, there’s a foundational element often overlooked. We can try to love ourselves without loving our Creator, but we’re only transferring the weight of that unconditional love onto ourselves and those around us. We’re implying that there is an earthly love that is equally comparable to the divine love of God.

And when we look to others to fill the spaces in our hearts that only the Lord can, we’ll be let down and disappointed to no avail. It’s not that the love we are privileged to experience on Earth fails to add to our lives – because it does. But when we place worldly love above heavenly love, we’re bound to a fate of searchlights and lifeboats.

Searching for light, love, and grace in a world of darkness, wickedness, and shame while relying on the tenuous preservers of those searching for the same.

Therefore, it’s God’s love that defines the affection we have for ourselves and the love we share with others. In Mark 12:30– Jesus tells us that the greatest commandment is to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

Our hearts should freefall into alignment with His.

Our souls should ache to know Him.
Our minds should be fixed on His Word.
Our strength should be tethered to the One who overcame death.

Love surrenders–

In that same passage, Jesus tells us about the second greatest commandment in verse 31– ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

So to love another, we must love ourselves, but to love ourselves fully we must know and love God first. The difference between the type of self-love that infiltrates our selfish society and God’s plan for love is where the emphasis on the self has been placed. The breakdown of the term “self-love” leads with the self and elects tendencies of self-absorption to overtake the throne of the Lord. To serve selflessly, we must surrender our own wants and preferences.

The type of love that transcends beyond me doesn’t start with me, it starts with God.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross has earned the daily sacrifices I must make to act in accordance with His will. The kind of love I want to carry doesn’t serve me, it serves God. Even though I have yet to experience the kind of love that walks down wedding aisles, I’m convinced that the kind of love I have so undeservingly been gifted is a love deserving of every piece of me.