The Only Way Great Love Works

And I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved. _2 Corinthians 12:15

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Average love, the kind of love that pitches in to help a friend or a colleague, or even a stranger, but always holds something back and has an exit plan just in case the cost gets to high, is reasonably easy.

But love that puts it all on the line…

Love that makes a marriage work for a lifetime,

Brings children into the world and puts their best interest first,

Serves a thankless world,

Builds and sustains things that last,

Is willing to be buried in an unknown grave…

Now that’s far different and far harder.

Here’s the irony, with average love you can expect a thank you. With great love – the kind that is willing to spend and be spent – you can expect to be taken for granted.

Paul describes it this way…

…the more abundantly I love you, the less I am loved.

Here’s how it works…

The first time you spend yourself unselfishly – holding nothing back for the good of others – they are amazed.

The second time they realize it is the kind of person you are, and they are grateful.

The third time they expect it and take it for granted, and the fourth time – well, people being people – they expect it and move on to other more exciting things.

There was an old hit song back in the day that declared, “any lovin is good lovin”, well maybe…if it really is love.

For sure, average love helps. It can grease the wheel and make things go smoother by meeting a temporary need or deescalating a momentary conflict, but only abundant love – the kind of love that holds nothing back – can change the world.

But here’s the deal: Don’t expect any thanks, it may not come.

There’s only one way great love works, and that leads me to the ONE THING for today…

The ONE THING for today: Ultimately the only motivation that will sustain you when loving greatly is that you do what you do “for the love of Christ.”

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. __Colossians 3:17 (NKJV)