{Guest Post} Rev. Heath Ferguson
I remember when I was eleven; I had a huge crush on a girl in my class. At that moment in my life, I was deeply, madly in love. I recall the feeling I felt when she said that she “liked” me too and we started “going steady." Something happened then in my life that I can only now begin to identify. I remember feeling that need to give up some independence in order to achieve happiness for the first time, and I didn’t like it. Up until then, I had been the center of my own little world, and I only had to receive in order to be happy. But now, as I began my second decade, that was all being challenged. I remember the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I found myself waiting for another person to reveal how they were feeling before I could know how I was feeling. This wasn’t cool! This wasn’t fun! Since when did I have to be dependent on someone else in order to experience joy? Why was I losing independence in order to find comfort, meaning, and purpose? After all, isn’t it when we are completely free that we are completely happy? Isn’t THAT the American dream? Aren’t we to be absolutely liberated in order to experience life at its fullest?
I’m older now, and life has taught me many hard lessons. One of them is that when you really love someone, deep intimacy is only attainable when you sacrifice control and independence. I’m realizing that my love for those who mean the most to me is truly what shapes my life, not perpetually attempting to express my freedom and autonomy. And those I love are also sacrificially surrendering their liberties and control in order to find me and love me. And to that I’m so very grateful.
And I think about God and how He loves me. I think about how He limited Himself in order to come find me. I think about how this omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God gave up so much to love me. Here’s God the Father giving me the perfect manifestation of His love in Jesus Christ. Here, in Jesus Christ, is God; limited and lowered, who is somehow divine, yet man. He came to experience life and loss as a mere man, so that I could know Him and love Him. He knew that He was the only way I could know hope and eternal joy. He came to serve me, through self sacrifice.
I think about all that means to me. It makes me feel loved. It makes me feel amazing. It makes me want to love Him right back. So how do I do that? Do I do that by expressing all of the earthly freedom I can muster? Do I do that by experiencing all the world has to offer? The answer is no. What it means is that I seek out the one I love daily. It means that I find Him, adore Him and give my everything to Him. It means that I serve Him, no matter the cost. It means that I take His Word to heart and spend my life living for Him and doing what delights Him. That’s what I’m learning love is about. That’s the lesson in love that the Gospel is teaching me.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. {Romans 5: 6-8}
I remember when I was eleven; I had a huge crush on a girl in my class. At that moment in my life, I was deeply, madly in love. I recall the feeling I felt when she said that she “liked” me too and we started “going steady." Something happened then in my life that I can only now begin to identify. I remember feeling that need to give up some independence in order to achieve happiness for the first time, and I didn’t like it. Up until then, I had been the center of my own little world, and I only had to receive in order to be happy. But now, as I began my second decade, that was all being challenged. I remember the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I found myself waiting for another person to reveal how they were feeling before I could know how I was feeling. This wasn’t cool! This wasn’t fun! Since when did I have to be dependent on someone else in order to experience joy? Why was I losing independence in order to find comfort, meaning, and purpose? After all, isn’t it when we are completely free that we are completely happy? Isn’t THAT the American dream? Aren’t we to be absolutely liberated in order to experience life at its fullest?
I’m older now, and life has taught me many hard lessons. One of them is that when you really love someone, deep intimacy is only attainable when you sacrifice control and independence. I’m realizing that my love for those who mean the most to me is truly what shapes my life, not perpetually attempting to express my freedom and autonomy. And those I love are also sacrificially surrendering their liberties and control in order to find me and love me. And to that I’m so very grateful.
And I think about God and how He loves me. I think about how He limited Himself in order to come find me. I think about how this omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent God gave up so much to love me. Here’s God the Father giving me the perfect manifestation of His love in Jesus Christ. Here, in Jesus Christ, is God; limited and lowered, who is somehow divine, yet man. He came to experience life and loss as a mere man, so that I could know Him and love Him. He knew that He was the only way I could know hope and eternal joy. He came to serve me, through self sacrifice.
I think about all that means to me. It makes me feel loved. It makes me feel amazing. It makes me want to love Him right back. So how do I do that? Do I do that by expressing all of the earthly freedom I can muster? Do I do that by experiencing all the world has to offer? The answer is no. What it means is that I seek out the one I love daily. It means that I find Him, adore Him and give my everything to Him. It means that I serve Him, no matter the cost. It means that I take His Word to heart and spend my life living for Him and doing what delights Him. That’s what I’m learning love is about. That’s the lesson in love that the Gospel is teaching me.
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. {Romans 5: 6-8}
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