Free to Love Prayer Devotional, November 23 gracecrossing.net/freetolove FREEDOM TO SERVE “As you wish.” - Westley COMMENTARY In the 1987 cinematic classic “The Princess Bride”, a beautiful young girl named Buttercup spends her days tormenting the resident farm boy by demanding he perform frequent and trivial chores. Westley, the farm boy, never seems to tire of Buttercups frivolity. Instead with each demand he simply responds, “As you wish.” Eventually, Buttercup realizes that Westley is doing much more than simply acquiescing to her whims, he is covertly expressing his love to her. He says, “As you wish”, but what he really means is, “I love you.” From tending to the horses to fetching a pitcher, Westley is expressing his love for her with each act of service. The ensuing romance sets the stage for the rest of the story, but the illustration is obvious. When we serve others, we are expressing love towards them. While the fairytale romance of “The Princess Bride” is picture perfect, its fair to say that real life doesnt quite match up. There are times when we simply dont feel like serving others. There are people in our life that are more challenging to serve than others. Even within our own family it can be difficult to at times to serve. There are times when instead of saying “As you wish.” wed rather say “Do it yourself!”. As we seek to better serve those around us, it would benefit us to remember the example of Christ. We know that His very presence on this earth is a result of the Fathers great love. (John 3:16) We know that when Christ served those around Him, he did so from a deep and committed love. (Mk. 10:21, Jn. 11:5, Jn. 13:23,34, Jn. 21:16) Our ability to love those around us comes primarily from two sources. First, as Christians, we recognize the great love that has been extended to us. (Jn. 14:21) We are loved and therefore we are free to love those in our life. Weve been taught how to love and are thus better equipped to love others. Secondly, we are able to love others when we recognize the great value that they possess as Gods children. God made all of us. He loves all of us. We are of such great value that God allowed His son to stand in harms way to protect us. When we realize that God not only loves us in this way, but all of mankind, we place great value on one another. We can look at others and see the same great worth that the Father does. We know that the feelings of a fairytale romance do not last. Christ teaches us that love is more than an emotion, it is a deep and sacrificial commitment to one another. Christ was serving and loving us far before we could understand. (Rm. 5:8) When we see the precious value of others, the way our Father does, we more naturally serve them. When the Holy Spirit guides us to someone in need, we remember the great love that is shown to us and our lips softly whisper, “As...you...wish.” PRAYER Father, your love for me is complete. You have created me with eternal worth. You love me and long to meet my needs. Holy Spirit, fill me with a desire to serve those in need. Teach me to value the by your standards. Guide me to give out of the abundance of love that you have provided me. In Christs name, AMEN! TAKEAWAY “I love and serve others because God has given them precious, eternal worth.”
Posted on: Sun, 23 Nov 2014 06:00:00 +0000
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