Sacrificial love

May 1, 2021| Past Issues, Burpham Church

I wonder if you are a morning person, who is always full of beans and  energy first thing in the morning, ready to face the day. Or are you a night  owl who comes alive in the evening and can keep going long into the  night. Most of us will be somewhere in between the two extremes!

What I have observed is that those people who start the day with the right attitude seem to get through life much better. I am not really one for life phrases but the one that says, ‘today is the first day of the rest of your life’ is true. However, it does not address how to act in each new day of the rest of our lives! In the last issue we talked about the need to let go of our worries and those things we cannot control and drain away the rubbish. But perhaps the most powerful thing we can start each morning with is forgiving sacrificial love. Parents learn to start every morning with new love, day after day, for their children. Our life partners and perhaps friends, can be harder to start each morning with fresh love, particularly a sacrificial kind!

Sacrificial love means a love that  costs us and is not always returned to us. I understand that is hard and sometimes impossible to  find this kind of love to give away every morning. Indeed, in order to give love away, we need to receive love from somewhere. That is generally from  our family and friends, but they can  fail too. Our danger is then to look in the wrong place for love. While this  too is understandable it still often leaves us empty.

Sacrificial love means a love that costs us and is not always returned to us.

While I understand not everyone shares my faith in God, God is my place to go for love each and every morning, because He promises that His love is unlimited and always available to everyone who seeks and knows Him. The Bible says this: