good.

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good.” Romans 12:9

This verse immediately turned my thoughts towards Jesus. He was the ultimate of example of what sincere love was. He loved from the depths of His heart, not just on the surface. He abhorred what is evil. In fact, he hated it so much that He clung to the very thing that would defeat its power: the cross.

Jesus took upon Himself the full weight of the evil He despised with His entire being, and literally clung to what He knew was good. But to the world around Him, the cross seemed to be the farthest thing from it. Wrongly accused and tried? Beaten and mocked? A painful crucifixion? Hanging accursed on a tree? How could this all be good?

God's concept of what is good is radically different from ours. Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him. He knew that death would have no victory and sin would forever lose it's sting. He looked forward to the evil that He so greatly despised being defeated for all eternity. Because the cross was the ultimate good for all humanity, Christ clung to it, even when no one else understood.

I want to be like my Jesus and embrace what I know is good, even when no one understands me. Right now in my life, the good that I need to cling to is where God has placed me. I am at Potter's Field Ranch, and I will soon be serving Him in El Salvador. The world doesn't understand why I am doing this, and apart from Christ they never will. However, there is “only one thing that is necessary”, and that is being at His feet. I will take heart, knowing that I “have chosen what is good, and it shall not be taken away from [me].” (Luke 10:42). Therefore, when I am wrongly accused for His sake, I will rejoice. When I am mocked, I will take courage in the One who was condemned in my place. His love was sincere and without hypocrisy; He hated evil, yet bore it all and died in my place to destroy it. I need to have this same love for those around me, especially those who do not understand. I will not simply love them in words, but in deed and in truth. For in this, I will be imitating the ultimate being of pure love and holiness. I will embrace my cross as I leave the world behind, live out the faith Christ desires, and cling to the only One who is truly good.

Ephesians 5:1-2

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, and offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.”

August 22, 2011