Do I love you?

By Guy K. Henry

www.guyhenry.com 

Chris and his wife Mary were in a heated discussion as their car drove down the curvy mountain road. Neither of them heard the slight ‘pfft’ sound as a nail plunged through the rubber and steel of the front right tire. The weight of the car pushed the nail into the tire until the head was flush with the surface.

“You always tell me that you love me,” Mary argued, “but I don’t believe you.”

“I love you!” Chris answered a little exasperated. “I don’t know any other way to tell you other than saying, ‘I love you’!”

The nail wiggled very slightly on each turn of the tire as the car rolled down the rounded curves of the road.

“Just ten minutes ago you said, ‘I love banana pudding.” Mary said, “and before that you said that you love your pick-up truck.”

“Well, I…” Chris started, not even knowing why they were arguing, “it’s different.”

The air inside the tire pushed on the nail, trying its best to expel it back onto the road.

“And just yesterday you told me that you ‘love’ the color yellow, and how you ‘love’ hunting,” She continued. “So when you tell me that you ‘love’ me, I’m not sure that it’s a good thing!”

Chris was frustrated by this discussion. “Why are we even arguing about this?”

Mary snapped, “What would you rather argue about?”

At that moment Chris veered to avoid a board in the road. The swerve had just enough energy to cause the tire to cough the nail out. Now, since the tire was no longer round, the car started to careen out of control.

Just ahead of the car the road took a sharp right hand turn. Along the edge of the curve was an old fence, and just beyond that was a steep, rocky cliff. Chris stepped on the breaks and turned the steering wheel, but the car barely responded. It slid sideways, and was stopped by a tree.

Chris and Mary were unconscious, held in their seats by their seatbelts. Their car teetered on the edge of the cliff. Chris awoke to see steam coming out from under the hood. Then he froze as he looked out his side window. He was staring down the cliff at the rocks below.

Chris looked over to his wife. Mary was breathing but she was not conscious. He found the red button on her seatbelt, and released it. He did the same with his seatbelt too. He looked around for something with which to open Mary’s door. He pulled her hairbrush from her purse. As he leaned over to work on the door he felt the car slightly rocking back and forward. Finally the door clicked as the latch was released.

Chris then summoned up all his strength. In spite of the increased rocking of the car, he placed his hand under Mary’s neck and under her knees. After much careful maneuvering he bumped the door open with her feet. He was now on his belly holding Mary partially out of the car. As he slid his wife onto the ground, he felt the car rock, but only in one direction. The more he laid Mary down, the farther the car leaned over the cliff.

Tears welled up in his eyes. He spun Mary around so that the door would not hit her. He knew that as soon as he released his wife, the weight inside of the car would send it down the cliff. Softly he spoke. “Mary… I… Love…You.”

 

 

Jesus says in John 15:13  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

If someone has ever, or will ever, give their life so that yours can be spared, there will be no doubt that they loved you.

When Jesus made that statement, He knew that in a short time He would be the one laying His life down. He would be ‘proving’ his love by giving his life as a sacrifice for us. He would take on death, so that we would not have to.

The Bible records in 1 John 4:19  “We love him, because he first loved us.” We can be sure of the truth of this statement for two reasons. One is that it is in the Bible, and anything that is can be trusted. Another is that Jesus demonstrated his love for us by voluntarily taking our place.

We are instructed to do something strange in John 13:34. It says, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” I am not sure if we’ll be required to lay down our lives to prove our love, but you can be sure that we are required to do more than just tell each other that we love them. We will have to demonstrate it. It will require action on our part.

How can we do that? I am glad that you asked!

If I truly love you, I am going to be certain that you’ve heard about your need for Jesus Christ to take away your sins and be your lord. I am not going to rest until you’ve had a chance to ask Jesus to make good on His promise in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Anything short of that is nothing less than the worst form of hatred and contempt I can show you.

1 Corinthians 13 also tells me that if I am to love you, I’ll be with you for the long haul. I’ll show you as much kindness as I know. I’ll be glad when good things come to you. I’ll support you as best I can when bad things visit you. I’ll believe the best about you. I’ll be your biggest fan!

The only way that I can even begin to be like that is to bring to the front of my attention the love that Jesus Christ showed me when he allowed Himself to be nailed to the cross and to suffer death. I must allow Jesus to be my teacher on the subject of love.