What It Means To Love Like Christ

This video was absolutely beautiful. I was in the library preparing to start work when I came across this video from http://www.ruthiedean.com whose blog I love reading, and I was really moved by it, that I just had to share it too. The video is about Larissa and Ian, who were dating in college for 10 months before he got into an accident and was diagnosed with severe brain injury. A few years after caring for him and being able to communicate with him once more, they decided to get married.

And to marry someone who was disabled quite severely as such.. It is not commonly seen in the world today. Which is why, her selfless love for him is so holy and beautiful. I was reading through their blog for a bit at www.prayforian.com and felt so so moved. It wasn't that she didn't struggle with it, not at all, but it was how often she brought things back to the love of Christ that was so breathtaking.

As a husband, I want to be strong for my wife. I want her to see me as a man in the same vein as Maximus Aurelius from Gladiator; a persistent and strong leader with good intent. In reality, I’m more like a child in middle school who’s trying to impress a girl but continually cracks under pressure.

But how can Ian, a crippled man who’s been stripped of many physical and mental capabilities, be this type of man for his wife?

Well, the most important aspect of service to your wife is soul-protector. How did Jesus best serve the church? By redeeming and caring for the church. He gave himself up for the church so that “he might sanctify her” (Eph. 5:25-26). He gave himself up “so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27). Husbands are supposed to love their wives “as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her” (Eph. 5:25).

We cannot save people from damnation, but we can care for them. So, the best way a husband can serve his wife is by caring for her spiritual condition and seeking her sanctification. This is the most obvious way Ian serves Larissa, and he does it well.

Ian’s joyfulness and complete reliance on God seem to bring encouragement to Larissa, not to mention his quickness to bring God back to the center of things. Ian portrays faith like it should be portrayed: as common sense. God is good and that’s the truth, even to a man in Ian’s condition.

This should reposition my focus in marriage. The most important aspect of protecting, caring and providing for my wife is spiritual. Even if I were handicapped, unable to walk by myself, and relying on her for everything, the weight of her soul on my heart should be heavier than any other burdens I might have.

I should be more like Ian, because Ian serves his wife like Jesus serves his church.

- Caleb, Ian's brother

Inevitably, I was forced to question myself in the end, am I able to love like that? So selflessly?

The truth is, I don't know. I hope that the love I have for people is indeed pure without requiring return, but I pray that God continues to work in my heart that I may be able to shake off all worldly mindsets or spirits of entitlement.

Even as I head back for my placement in Port Philip tomorrow Lord, I pray that I will be able to love the students there like You do, without holding back, without concern about spit or snot or smell or anything like that, and I pray that I will be able to continue learning how to love people from You, my Heavenly Father as long as I live. Mold me Lord, to be more like You every day. :)

Blessings and joy,
Candice