Brokering Love

Today I was reading a story about a man who was struggling with a decision.  His boss had asked him to lie for him, in order to cover up something.  If he did so, he would end up hanging out a co-worker.  He was wrestling with this decision, because his boss had said to him, "After all I've done for you, you owe me this."  As the man was seeking council from a friend, the friend told him this, "It seems to me that if you owe him then he never really did anything for you."

This comment is sitting with me.  If this is true, think about what it means.  If I hold someone I help to a debt they don't owe, then I don't really help them.  If I love expecting something in return, then I don't really love.  I have been in the boss's situation...I may not have actually said the words, but I did think them.  The bible shows us that we are not to repay evil for evil, and I think there is also something to this reciprocation.  We should not love for repayment of love.  We broker love on a regular basis to protect our own self-interests.  We extend love to those who we believe can help us meet a need in our lives - emotional, physical, spiritual, etc.  We withhold that love from those we think don't deserve it.

Jesus didn't seem to live this way.  He extended love to everyone, knowing that they would never "repay" him.  Look at the investment he made in the twelve disciples.  He loved them, knowing they would ultimately deny him, and one would even betray him.  If I somehow were able to tell who would love me and who would betray me, it would definitely affect how I distributed my love for others.  But it shouldn't!

I need God to transform this part of me into something different and new.  I want to love without strings attached.  I want to love with no expectations.  I want a relationship that demonstrates the grace and mercy of Father.

CORE VIRTUE:: LOVE
I sacrificially and unconditionally love and forgive others.

Key Verses: 
1 John 4:10-12 - “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us."