Calvary Love

These words were  shared recently in a devotion at my Bible Study. My watercolor picture I included here , "You are my sunshine"  represents the  Love shared between this Grammie and her grandsons.... as we think about Calvary love and what it means.... This was Stacha Conway inspired through a class offered by Brandi Dayton... I love what this missionary wrote so many years ago, and how they are still so true today.... Do we love well?1 Corinthians 13:1-3“ If I speak in the tongues of men or o angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding long or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all that I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."Amy Carmichael, an Irish missionary to India during the early 20^th century puts it like this… If I have not the patience of my Saviour with souls that grow slowly, if I know little pain til Christ be formed in them, I know nothing of Calvary love.If my attitude be one of fear, not faith, about one who has disappointed me, If I say, “Just what I expected,”  if a fall occurs, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I can rebuke without a pang, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf in dealing with one that does not respond I weary of the strain and slip from under the burden, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I can enjoy a joke at the expense of another, and an in any way slight another in conversation or even thought, then I know nothing of Calvary LoveIf I can write an unkind letter, speak an unkind word , think an unkind thought without grief and shame, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I can easily discuss the shortcomings and the sins of any, if I can speak in a casual way even of a child`s misdoings, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I am afraid to speak the truth lest I lose affection or because I fear o lose my reputation for kindness, If I put my own good name before the other`s highest good, then I know nothing of Calvary love.If I fear to hold another to the highest goal because it is so much easier to avoid doing so, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I put my own happiness before the well-being of  the work entrusted to me, then I know nothing of Calvary love.If my thoughts revolve around myself, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I cannot in honest happiness take second place or twentieth, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I do not give a friend the benefit of the doubt, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf  sudden jar or jolt can cause me to speak an impatient, unloving word, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I feel  injured when another falsely accuses me, forgetting that my sinless Saviour trod this path to the end, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I feel bitterly towards those who condemn me, unjustly, forgetting that if they knew me as I know myself they would condemn me much more , then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf by doing some work, I inwardly rebel, thinking it is the spiritual for which I rave, when in truth it is the interesting and exciting, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I hesitate to obey because so few will understand, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I consent to subject the care of a soul entrusted to me to weakening influences because the world fills my ears, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf monotony tries me, and I cannot stand drudgery, if stupid people fret me and little ruffles set me on edge, if I make much of the trifles of life, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf souls can suffer alongside and I hardly know it, beause the spirit of discernment is not in me, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf there be any reserve in my giving to Him who so loved that He gave His Dearest for me, if there is  a secret “BUT” in my prayers, “Anything but that, Lord,” then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf things or places or people hold me back from obedience to my Lord, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf something I am asked to do for another feels burdensome If, yielding to an inward unwillingness, I avoid doing it, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I cannot rest under misunderstanding without defending myself, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I want to be known as the doer of something that has proved the right thing or as the one that suggested that it should be done, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf personal success or the cup of spiritual flattery tastes sweet to me, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf in the fellowship of service I seek to attach a friend to myself, so that others are caused to feel unwanted, if my friendships do not draw others deeper in and are ungenerous of myself then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I slip into the place that can be filled by Christ alone, making myself the first necessity to a soul instead of leading it to fasten upon Him, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf when an answer I did not expect comes to a prayer I believe I truly meant, and I shrink back from it, if the burden my Lord asks me to bear be not the burden of my hearts choice, and I fret  inwardly and do not welcome His will, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I avoid being ‘Plowed under” with all that such plowing entails of rough handling, isolation, uncongenial situations strange tests, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I wonder why something trying is allowed, and press for prayer that is may be removed, if I cannot be trusted with any disappointment, and cannot go on in peace under any mystery, then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I look back longingly upon what used to e and linger so that my power o help is weakened then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf I forget that the way of the cross leads to the cross and not to a bank of flowers so that I am surprised when the way is rough  and think it is strange, though the Word is, “Think it not strange,”….. “count it all joy” , then I know nothing of Calvary loveIf the ultimate, the hardest cannot be asked of me, if my peers hesitate to ask it and turn to someone else, then I know nothing of Calvary love, and………… if I covet any place on earth but the dust at the foot of the cross, then I know Nothing of Calvary love…"And they`ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love… and they`ll know we are Christians by our love"Have a great new week!!Love, Jane