It’s easy to love those who love us, and to repay kindness to those who have been kind to us. But Christ calls us to a higher standard of love, namely to love others as he has loved us. And this means we must become one-who-loves.
To be sure, Christ loved us even to the point of death while we were still in our sins. In fact, he was willing to extend forgiveness while he was still on the cross, realizing those who crucified him didn’t fully know what they were doing. Jesus is the incarnation of Love and he shows us the way to follow.
For instance, in marriage it’s easy to love our wife when she is respectful and kind toward us. But we’re not fulfilling our duty to love when we wait or otherwise demand these conditions before offering our love. As demonstrated by Christ, we must be willing to love her even when she’s still missing the mark, and perhaps also in the face of her criticism and contempt. Of course, this is not easy, nor fair, but it is the way of Christ. And we’re called to follow him – becoming one-who-loves.
Being one-who-love means it’s what we do regardless of how we feel in the moment or the circumstances at hand. In other words, love becomes our identity. It’s simply who we are. And our loving actions then flow from the essence of our being.
To love as Christ requires a supernatural grace. It’s not something we can do on our own. At the same time, we must open ourselves up to receive this grace from God. And we only frustrate ourselves when we attempt to love as he does without the empowering of his Spirit.
In the end, become one-who-loves by making love your identity. Love then is no longer just what you do; it’s who you are.
