This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
1 John 4:9-10
Recently, I started a bedtime tradition giving my kids as many kisses as their age. My 10-year-old gets ten kisses, my 8-year-old gets eight kisses and so on. My kids love this tradition and ensure I count accurately. I hope when they are sixteen and beyond they still desire that many kisses. Tonight, my youngest son decided to give me as many kisses as my age. (It takes a little while to do that many kisses.) It blessed my heart to see his desire, affection and devotion to reciprocate my love. Reciprocity is the key point in any relationship where love is freely given and freely received. This is the type of relationship God desires with me. Pursuing love with Him – freely given and freely received. Traditions are lost without this love.
One example in the Bible that displays this so intimately is when the adulterous woman washed Jesus feet with her tears (Luke 7:36-40). Foot washing was a cultural tradition in Biblical times. When a person enters a dwelling, a servant or the host would wash their guest’s feet. Jesus entered the home of a Pharisee (high, presumably wealthy, Jewish leader) and he did not bother with this tradition. Instead an adulterous woman came and wiped Jesus feet with her tears and anointed them with an expensive bottle of perfume. Jesus proclaimed to everyone in the room, including the host… “Do you see this woman? When I came into your house, you gave me no water for my feet, but she washed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss of greeting, but she has been kissing my feet since I came in. You did not put oil on my head, but she poured perfume on my feet. I tell you that her many sins are forgiven, so she showed great love. But the person who is forgiven only a little will love only a little.” (Luke 7:44-47)
I wonder how Jesus felt when the woman began to kiss His feet and wipe them with her tears. True love and reciprocity is beautifully displayed here. She pursued love with a passion toward the one who loved her completely – forgiving all her sins. Before that time, she had only known ridicule and incomplete love. God loves us and pursues a love relationship with us by sending His son Jesus to forgive our sins that separate us from Him. His love makes our relationship now whole and holy. There is no greater love to pursue than this – freely given and free to receive. The truth of His love should bring me to my knees with tears of humility – pursuing love passionately, like this woman, with the knowledge of His forgiveness.
Pursue Love
Traditions. Tears. Forgiveness.
The next time you greet someone, think about the tradition of foot washing and consider it’s equivalent in our culture today? Do I pursue love in such a way that I would wash someone’s feet? How great is my love for God and others?