The different looks of love
She was just glowing – her eyes were shining, and she just could not stop smiling. You've seen her, haven't you – the woman in love. She has that look. Love is hard to disguise. Wehave seen it on the faces of the bride and groom as they look at each other. We have seen it as a new mother watches her baby asleep in her arms, and on the face of a dad as his child runs to greet him at the end of the day. Those are looks of love that we can easily recognize. But there are many different looks of love, such as the one shown in the story of the young boy whose sick sister needed a blood transfusion in order to live. Her blood type was rare and only her little brother had the same type. When he was asked if he would give her some of his blood, he thought about it and then agreed. As he lay on the stretcher watching his blood flow through the tubing into his sister, the doctor noticed tears in his eyes. The doctor asked him about them, and the little boy said, “Doctor, when am I going to die?” The little boy was giving his blood to his sister even through he thought he himself would die.
Is love always beautiful? Maybe in the deepest aspect, yes. But we have seen instances when the love shown was painful and even ugly to watch. Picture with me the most unlikely place to see a look of love – a public execution taking place on a mountain. A man's body has been mercilessly beaten and is bloody. His face is swollen from heavy blows and from long thorns pressed into his forehead. Blood from the thorns has run down his face and into his eyes. He is not a pretty sight, hanging there on a cross with his arms stretched out and nailed to the wood. His feet also have nails in them. This man is innocent of any crime, yet He is suffering the death of the worst of criminals. As we watch and listen, we hear no harsh cursing words coming from his lips. We hear scornful words coming from those watching and gloating at his torment; but His words are those of love and forgiveness. He talks to Someone they cannot see,
Someone He calls “Father.” He asks Him to “Forgive them for they don't know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34 NLT).
On His disfigured face we see the look of love – the Greatest Love – “There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for his friends” ( John 15:13 NLT). May we “have the power to understand …how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is…and experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully” (Ephesians 3:18-19 NLT).