Love in Jars of Clay

“I love you.”

I stare into his brown eyes – get lost in the pools of them. They are gentle and strong; dark brown, but a hazel glow blazes forth when I stay and linger long enough.

Those words took some time to say – I remember a time when they didn’t roll off my tongue so easily. I remember that I listened to those words for months – and held inside how I wanted to say them back.

Now I say them effortlessly, and at times, too effortlessly.

At times, I catch myself using the words like a bridge. I use the words as a cover up for what I really want to say. Many times, the truth of “I love you,” is “I’m longing to be close to you right now. And this is all I know how to say.”

I love you.

Those three words are more powerful than I treat them. Words can become lost if we’re not careful to protect them and what they really mean by our actions.

There is a depth to love that gets lost sometimes – lost in the day to day way that we treat it. We take advantage of the precious gift we are entrusted with.

“We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”
-2 Corinthians 4:7

When Paul wrote this, He was referring to the message of Christ’s gospel. The message of His redemption – something we could never take credit for and never own of ourselves.

But I see a deeper layer here. We carry in jars of clay anything so fragile, that we could break it, anything so fragile, that only God can heal it.

Love is a treasure. A gift that we carry it around so gently. But words, sometimes we toss them around – and we’re not gentle with them. We’re not intentional with them. We’re not seeking the best for others with them.

As we focus on love this month, I want to challenge us with this: What if our love translated better into words and into actions? What if by our words and deeds people actually saw glimpses of Jesus and His heart?

What if I looked into my man’s eyes and instead said, “I love your kind and sensitive heart?”

What if I told my mom, “I love how you’re always willing to sacrifice and give your all?”

What if I told my friend, “I love how your spirit is so resilient – and it inspires me?”

What if I instead prayed to God and said, “I love you because of how you’re always so faithful, even when I don’t deserve it, God?”

This is the kind of love I want to strive for – a love that sees.

A love that has eyes, eyes to see into the windows of souls and to reflect back to them something in the depths of who they are.

I’ve had people do this for me. People who, when they look at me, I can see that I am accepted just as I am, even with my flaws and brokenness. And that kind of love has always changed me, healed me, and remade me.

I want to love more like that.

But we can only see others as deep as we see ourselves. And we can only reflect love to the extent that we know we are loved.

This takes a lifetime of work – seeing and loving ourselves so we can see and love others. And it’s a work that Christ does in us. A work that Christ will bring to completion.

“He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ”
-Philippians 1:6

What greater work is there in life than learning how to love and be loved?

The work often comes in the times it’s hardest to love. In my own life, it’s hardest to love when I’m hurt and wounded. I can’t give freely, because I’m protecting myself, clutching onto my own jar of clay, running my fingers over all of its cracks, trying to hold all the love I have inside.

This is when the power of Christ can work, and break through any of our cracks with the light of His love.

In Christ, even when I’m hurt, I can see others. I can see past my own pain, my own wounds. I can be vulnerable and say, “I know you’re hurting too. Please tell me, how does it feel for you?” I can build bridges to hearts that are only built by the love and power of God.

This is the type of love that Christ calls us to – not an easy love. Not a simple phrase, “I love you.” Not one built on mounds of chocolate candy hearts. Not a love that looks out for ourselves first and then gives away all the leftovers.

Real love gives freely, generously, without reservation, and without holding back. As Paul writes in Philippians 1:9 (MSG, emphasis added),

“This is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. Learn to love appropriately. You need to use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. Live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life that Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.”

How amazing would it be for Jesus to be proud of the way that we love while we’re here on this earth? To know that our Father is proud of how we’re growing to love like He does?

As we grow in love, He calls us up – calls us to love more like Him.

Jesus Christ calls us to a love that sees deeply. To a love that risks confidently. To a love that cares for souls and carries others’ fragile places gently. And to a love that heals and restores by the power of His love – the one that conquered the grave and rose again.

This love – His love – can burn first in our hearts and can then echo and ripple from heart, to heart, to heart.

 

 

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters…dear children, let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and truth.”
– 1 John 3:16, 18

“Above all, love each other deeply, for love covers a multitude of sins.”
-1 Peter 4:8