Love in the Gloom
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying
and singing hymns to God… —Acts 16:25a niv
“Do you trust
me? Do you love me? Jump!” Those were words I said to my two-year-old daughter
after putting her on the hat rack as I donned my coat. She was our daredevil,
so I thought she would leap without hesitation into the arms of her loving,
tall, strong dad. But she couldn't She would lean toward me a little, but couldn't trust me enough to jump. It wasn't about jumping; it was all about
trust.
Extreme love for God is all about trusting him enough to obey in the
small moments. Paul and Silas woke up to such a moment. They had shown their
extreme love for God earlier as the crowds betrayed and beat them—but now, no
glory, no fanfare, no invitation to greatness. Only a hard decision as they
swooned with pain. Complain or sing? Trust or question? Leap into God’s arms or
stay on the hat rack? It was all about trust. It still is.
Extreme love is seldom exhibited in the adrenaline-driven moment of great
challenge. Those without Christ can do that. Extreme love is revealed in the
gloom-shadowed moment when we have been emptied of all spiritual and emotional
reserves. It is when we wake up bleeding, moisture dripping off the walls,
abandoned by friends, with rats running across our legs. In such a moment as
that, the highest expression of sacrificial love is possible—a love vastly
different from anything the world does. When there is no fanfare and no one is
around to watch, will we complain or sing?
Lord, open our eyes to your disguised
invitations to trust you, to love you extremely.
Herb
Shaffer, Senior Pastor, New Song Community Church, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania
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