For February, I’m focusing on Calvary Love.
Lest I forget Gethsemane
Lest I forget Thine agony
Lest I forget Thy love for me
Lead me to Calvary.
In every thing I’ve ever faced in my life, I’ve always been led back to Calvary.
When I realized I was lost, and couldn’t save myself. When I finally surrendered my foolish pride. I was led to Calvary. There I received Redemption.
Every single time I fail. Every time I walk away. Jesus leads me back to Calvary. I find Relief. Relief as that precious blood once again washes me clean and the Father welcomes me back.
When my burdens get so heavy that I can’t even stand, let alone walk, He carries me there. And I find Rest.
And yet so often my eyes, my mind, my heart all stray from this sacred place.I forget Calvary.
And in forgetting Calvary love, I forget how I should love.
I find myself struggling to really show love to those around me. I find myself even struggling to love someone like Christ loves, when I’m thinking about them, much less trying to show them. How we love someone starts with how we think about them.
There is a tiny little booklet that I’ve had forever by Amy Carmichael, called “If: What do I know of Calvary Love”. You can purchase it here. It may be small but it is packed with life changing truths.
Below are some very convicting thoughts from the book:
If a sudden jar can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary love. For a cup brimful of sweet water cannot spill even one drop of bitter water, however suddenly jolted.
If souls can suffer alongside, and I hardly know it, because the spirit of discernment is not in me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If something I am asked to do for another feels burdensome; if, yielding to an inward unwillingness, I avoid doing it, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
If the ultimate, the hardest, cannot be asked of me; if y fellows hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
I needed to read these more than once and very slowly before they truly took root in my heart. I’m afraid I’ve been guilty of all of these things, more often than I’d care to admit. And what’s even worse is admitting that I know nothing of Calvary love.
Why are we so quick to not show love when we’ve been given the greatest Love? What would my life look like if I focused every day on loving with Calvary love?
We forget. We forget what it took to love us. What it took to forgive us. What it took to die for us.
If I have not compassion on my fellow-servant, even as the Lord had pity on me, then I know nothing of Calvary’s love.
I have lost my focus on everything that is important.
My cup, I’d like to say has a little bitter water in it because sometimes it splashes out. I snap, I’m impatient, my words are not always loving. But if I’m being honest, my cup has so little sweet that it doesn’t even make a difference on the bitter.
I get so frustrated when my kids, or even my husband, asks me to do something. Because I bear an unwillingness in my heart to love them when it’s a sacrifice for me.
Sometimes my vision gets so clouded, my own shoulders so heavily burdened, that I can’t even see someone struggling beside me.
When the Lord asks me to use my dizziness for Him, I whine and complain. It’s too hard. But He could easily just use someone else.
Who is telling this lost world about the greatest love, Calvary love? About Christ? Who is telling them He is the answer for everything? They are literally dying to know. And if we don’t tell them, show them, love them, who will?
It starts with the little things. If I can’t love the people I love with Calvary love, how can I love a world that only God could love?
When I remember Calvary love, I am able to love others. Because I’m reminded how unworthy, how wretched, how undeserving I am. And yet, I’m still loved.
If I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the cross, then I know nothing of Calvary love.
Sure, there are easier places to abide. Pleasure can be found in places much less dark than this one.
But no where else do I find the love that’s here. No where else is there hope and healing. No where else do things count for eternity than when I’m humbly kneeling at Calvary.
Because it’s there that I CAN know something of Calvary love. Only when I’m there, am I able to share it with others. And we must share it with others.
Words and music copyright Faith York