Articles
True Devotion
I know a Christian woman who exhibits the ultimate in selfless service. Her husband, once a capable gospel preacher and elder, suffered complications from surgery for a brain tumor which have severely compromised his physical and mental faculties. He does not recognize his wife and superficially interacts with family and friends. His wife works full-time to provide for them, and their adult children help in his care.
This is sacrificial love at its best. In a society that manifests selfish, juvenile attitudes in marriage, where spouses walk out on each other over trivial “my needs aren’t being met” complaints, this sister is a lighthouse of mature devotion and humble service. Oh, for more like her.
Many have an unrealistic view of life. They have come to expect that modern technology, first-world economics, advanced medical care and other advantages should surely provide their every want. They see themselves as totally free moral agents, choosing to live any way they want and assuming – no, demanding – that others affirm and celebrate them.
But when the real world rudely reminds them that it has sharp edges, they cry foul and file suit. They march and moan about the unfairness of it all. Whether it is the lone atheist who wants to censor the valedictorian’s reference to God, or the homosexual who is deaf to biology, history and morality and wants legitimate marital status for her perversion, or the race-baiter who hurls baseless, inflammatory accusations, our society is manifesting a breathtaking narcissism that cares little for anything or anyone beyond their own reflection in the pond.
But I digress. Being true to God, His word and one’s mate (or child, or brother in Christ, or even a stranger) can sometimes be nothing more than sheer determination to do the right thing. This is true love – agape – a self-diminishing service that thinks deeper than the here-and-now and measures all by the blueprint of God’s will. This service will not always yield fawning applause; it will not gratify our “dessert for every meal” self-indulgence; it likely won’t give us a trophy for just participating. But when all is said and done and we have done our dead-level best to serve others as Christ has served us, we will have been transformed into what God has wanted all along: a wayward child who has come home.
